Into The Fold
by Kiva Taliana
Summary: AU that spins off from a point in time that will be explained. A bruised and battered Ianto knows there is only one person he can call on to help him.
1. Chapter 1

**I have posted my Torchwood stuff on another site, I just want to try a new audience perspective. Plus I want to turn my head back to writing some of my unfinished stuff and need a kick start to do it. **

Ianto had to crawl. It was too painful to walk now; his feet felt like they were burning. But he didn't have far to go, he could see the light just on the street corner. For a moment he stayed in the dark shadows, looking around fearfully, as he tried to survey the scene his vision blurred painfully and he sagged against the wall. It was cold and damp, the sensation pressing through the thin material of his clothes, but his skin burned as he felt it. He almost went down, sliding down the wall to land prone on his face, but at the last moment he stopped himself. He knew if he dropped now it would all be over.

So much of it already was. He didn't even know if what he was about to do would help him. Ianto had to do it though; he had no other avenue to take, except lying down on the floor and just dying right here and right now. Jack might hear of it. Ianto didn't know if Torchwood 3 were still looking for him. He guessed that Jack had planned to retcon him. Ianto had run away, for two weeks he had been free of Jack, and Torchwood, and all the mess he had created. Another one had found him soon after.

Ianto whimpered and pushed himself forward. He tried to focus on his hands as he crawled along towards the light, his breathing was coming out in frantic heavy gasps and his heart shuddered if he tried to move too swiftly, it was pounding and now and again seemed to skip along the way. Ianto had to stop, but he had nothing to rest against, he couldn't stay still for long, he had to move, he had to reach his goal.

He almost went down again as his head rapped sharply against something. He swayed reaching out to grab hold of something that would steady him. His palm pressed against something solid and he tried to grip, but his hand slid several times before he caught the edge of the phone box. He held it and shuffled forward, looking up he could see the black plastic of the receiver, he tried to grab for it and he wobbled again pitching down onto the floor.

With the world spinning so hard he had to lay there for a while to wait until it passed. As he looked at the floor his eyes burned as he saw something glistening. Screwing up his eyes, an action that sent burning pains through his head, he realised it was a puddle. Ianto hefted himself towards it feeling the disgust rise from somewhere in his mind as he put his face to it and licked at the liquid.

It made him gag, as it slid down his throat. Ianto didn't consider how he must have looked, lying on the floor, licking at a puddle of water like a dog. The liquid, as he got it down and kept it down, eased his pain a little and somehow strengthened him to pull himself up again. His knees were starting to ache now, but he couldn't stand and he had to reach the phone. He fumbled to grab for it, pulling it off the rest and it dropped down, smacking him on the head on it's way down. It swung gently as he slumped down against the side of the cubicle and his hand reached out to try and find it. One hand latched on clumsily and he used the grip to pull himself up, his other hand seeking out the wire and Ianto pulled up, his focus on the phone.

With one shaking hand he put the receiver to his ear and the other fumbled for the buttons. He couldn't look up, he had to rely on his sense of touch, finding the top row and then he paused. He had no money, but he could use the emergency protocols. Any Torchwood operative could use the code and then call through to their controlling officer. Ianto whimpered, he knew that, but he couldn't remember the number he needed. He was supposed to know everything. He hung for a moment, indecision rippling through him. Then he reached up and dialled and waited.

Ianto looked up in panic as nothing happened, the phone gave a dull tone and then the impersonal voice announced the number was not correct. Ianto scrabbled up his hand and yanked on the cradle to disconnect. The dialling tone sounded again and Ianto took a deep breath, he looked up and tried to focus but still remained reliant on his sense of touch. Slowly he worked out the keys and pressed again, dialling the eight digit number.

A second later a different, but bored sounding voice calmly asked.

"Please dial the extension or phone number you require."

Ianto blinked and focussed again. He couldn't afford to get this wrong. It was Jack's number he needed, he had to get it right. Ianto found each button, hearing the beep each time he pressed. That made him focus, he steadied his breathing and dialled the number that he had known long before he met Jack, and had never forgotten. Ianto gave a little whimper of fear and relief as it rang and as it was answered the voice, although wary, was wonderfully familiar.

"Hello."

"Jack!" Ianto breathed. There was a pause. Ianto's eyes widened. Maybe Jack didn't remember his voice. Ianto opened his mouth to identify himself and then he realised why there was a pause as Jack answered.

"Ianto?" Jack voice was flat, questioning and unfriendly. Ianto couldn't blame him, but it sent his shivering body into an even colder state.

"Jack, I… I used the emergency protocol," Ianto said, stuttering over the words.

"Yes, I got that. How did you know it?"

"From Torchw…" Ianto coughed, his breath hitching violently. "One."

"Oh, yes," Jack said.

"They came and… they tried to make me tell… and I don't remember…" Ianto stammered, his tongue felt so thick and it hurt to talk. Ianto sagged down against the side of the phone booth, there was only one coherent thought in his head.

"Jack, please help me… please…" Ianto tried to ask for help again but his voice gave out, he couldn't talk anymore and he felt so tired. He could sleep now, couldn't he, now Jack knew.

"Ianto!" Jack snapped him back to attention. He whimpered in pain. "Okay, we've got a fix on the phone box, we're coming to your location."

Ianto whimpered in relief, he tried to think of something to say, to say anything, but it was too hard.

"I want you to stay near the phone but not where you can be seen, is there somewhere you can hide?"

"Yes," Ianto said, not even looking. It didn't matter, hiding he could do. He could always manage that.

"Okay, we're on our way, stay out of sight until we get there."

"I will… Jack?" Ianto frowned, realising Jack had hung up on him. Ianto sat back, stunned by that. Then it occurred to him; that was because Jack was coming. He had to hide, Jack had told him to. Ianto let the phone go and looked around, and then he turned back. He scrabbled for the receiver again; hiding meant leaving nothing out of place. He had to tidy up.

His hands scrabbled for the plastic of the phone, missing it several times until he latched on. Grabbing it in both hands Ianto lifted it up to put it back. It was only by sheer luck he hit the cradle first time. The handset lay at an angle, but it was up there. With that done, all Ianto had to focus on was somewhere to hide.

He looked at the shadows across the road. That was promising. Shunting forward on his hands and knees he moved, his head up, eyes fixed. However much the world blurred and darkened around him, Ianto didn't stop, even when the branches of the shrubbery scratched him, tearing through his already badly damaged skin. He had to hide, Jack told him so, and then Jack would come. Ianto fell onto his side, the world darkening around him, he thought to pull his legs in, curling up into a foetal position, before the dark oblivion of unconsciousness took him completely.


	2. Chapter 2

Jack pulled up the SUV by the phone booth. They had driven for three and a half hours at a frantic pace. All of them were on red alert. No one had commented on the fact that Ianto, after disappearing over seven months ago, had suddenly decided to call them, or more significantly, Jack.

"Tosh?"

"All clear, place looks deserted."

"Well, it can't be, scan for lifeforms, Ianto has to be around here somewhere. I told him to hide though, from what he was babbling it sounded like someone was after him."

"In addition to us?" Owen sniped mildly as he checked his gun and medical supplies. He opened the passenger door, and that seemed to be a cue for the others to spill out of the vehicle. Jack looked around, slamming the door behind him. It was loud in the silence of the early morning. The area was dark, from behind him he could hear the sound of the traffic on the main road, as nothing more than a distant hum.

Where they were was quiet, not exactly countrified but close, the road was on the outskirts of an industrial estate. Why there would be a phone box on the corner Jack wasn't quite sure, but he was used to phone boxes turning up in strange places. Glancing around he assessed possible hiding places. There wasn't much; scrubland ahead of him, a cluster of large buildings to his left, and to the right a hedgerow with what looked to be more buildings beyond that, a little further up the road was a right turn leading to that area. Jack assessed the situation and looked at the hedge again. Of all places it was the nearest, the buildings would have been a better bet for cover, but Ianto hadn't sounded entirely coherent, and he was probably injured.

Jack moved to the phone booth for something of a hint, looking around from there to what seemed the most likely move Ianto would make. Looking at the handset he noticed it was crooked and idly reached out to straighten it up on the cradle. Turning his head he stared directly across the road.

As he stepped forward, gazing intently, he heard a mild rustle of leaves. Jack paused and pulled his gun. He held his gun and torch together, so he could light his way and see what he was aiming at. The street lights caught the area on the other side of the road in their sickly orange glow but there were none on the other side of the road. It was an additional point that put it as a good hiding place. Although, Jack could now be stalking nothing more than a fox, or a bird.

He kept his tread light as he skirted the hedgerow, spying a cluster of broken branches in one area.

"Tosh?" he asked in a low tone as he moved, stepping sideways so whatever he found would be in view the second he cleared the thick bushes.

"I'm getting something, it's large enough but the body temperature is really low."

Jack stepped quicker, Owen jogged across the road and Jack flicked his head to the far end of the hedgerow, just on the corner. Owen nodded and headed that way. It wasn't foolproof, Ianto could still make a run for it towards the buildings, but a flanked approach seemed the best. Jack covered the last few paces and stepped around, sweeping the torchlight across the area, with his finger ready on the trigger. As the huddled figure was caught within the beam of light Jack's shoulders tensed and he gave a sharp intake of breath.

Ianto was curled up into as small a ball as he could manage, shivering on the floor. His knees were drawn up to his chest, his arms wrapped around his legs tightly, his head was down but as he shifted, his shoulders hunching, Jack realised Ianto knew he was there. As he stepped forward Ianto's gaze didn't lift, it appeared to be firmly fixed on his boots. Jack relaxed the grip on his gun, it was clear Ianto wasn't going to either run, or attack.

"Ianto?" Jack asked. Other than Ianto curling up a little tighter there wasn't a reaction. "Ianto, look at me."

His command was obeyed, Ianto's head rose a little and Jack caught a quick glimpse of one of Ianto's blue eyes. The other eye was so badly swollen that there was no chance Ianto would be able to see out of it. His lower lip was also swollen and split. It had opened as some point and dried blood was smeared over his chin and jaw. On Ianto's right cheek was a bloodied graze. Jack lowered the torchlight, so he didn't blind Ianto completely and he put his gun away. Ianto's eyes lowered again, and he huddled down as Owen covered the distance and shone his own torch at Ianto.

"Shit!" Owen said, succinctly saying it all. He put his gun away quicker than Jack had and moving closer to Ianto, slid his medical kit off his back. Ianto cringed away from him, but as Owen crouched down running his torch over Ianto to assess him he didn't pull away. He just tensed like he was waiting for something painful to happen.

Owen looked at him intently, getting around Ianto's refusal to keep his head up by putting a hand under his chin and gently encouraging him to lift his head again. He assess the eye and damage on Ianto's face, before moving lower to his neck, spotting the dark purple mottling of bruises around his neck. Something had most certainly been cinched tightly around Ianto's throat, at some point. Owen ran a hand over Ianto, feeling the other man tense uncomfortably as he did so. That quick check established there were no broken bones to speak of.

"Tosh?" Jack's voice ran overhead as Owen went for his scanner, just to double check. "Are you getting anyone else, or anything else in the area?"

Toshiko walked around, trying not to look at Ianto as she concentrated on what she was doing. Gwen didn't have the luxury of a distraction, she just stared in shock, gun still in her hand and ready just in case but for what, she wasn't sure.

"No, it's just us," Toshiko confirmed. "What about him, should I…?"

Ianto flinched, clearly aware he was being referred to.

"Scan him for trackers, radiation traces, anything…. We need to know if someone's on his trail, close on it anyway."

Ianto gave a strangled sound of fear as she moved closer, he huddled down, flinching away as if he expected her to hurt him. Toshiko hesitated and looked at Jack, who nodded insistently at her. Owen, who had reached Ianto's feet, gave a hiss of anger. Jack moved closer to look, trying not to crowd Ianto too much, since he clearly wasn't coping with it too well. Toshiko paused, and Gwen moved to look.

His feet were bare, and red raw, as Owen examined the soles of his feet he heard Gwen gasp in shock.

"How did that happen?"

Owen looked at the reddened skin, he held Ianto's ankle gently, he didn't dare touch the sole, it would have been agony for him.

"It's like someone has burnt off the dermal layers, but it's been cauterised at the same time. We need to minimise the pressure he puts on them, by the look of it he's been crawling for a while."

Ianto's only answer was to continued to shake with cold and fear. Jack looked up, he could have done the job himself but he decided to give Gwen something to do.

"Gwen, get the SUV, back it up the pavement next to the hedge, we can get him into the backseat easily, and carry him that distance."

Gwen nodded, moving around Jack, her eyes staying on Ianto for a long moment before she ran to do as she was told. At the swift movement Ianto flinched again, but he never moved away, or stopped anyone doing what they were doing. Like he feared what was to come but couldn't avoid it.

"Right," Owen said. "I'll give him a painkiller, and I'll patch him up as best I until we… oh my God."

Jack had almost turned away but his head whipped round at the tone of Owen's voice of shock, almost turning into despair. It was not a tone Jack usually heard if Owen was working, when he needed to be the doctor he was. He knew what to do and nothing ever affected him. Jack stepped back to look and even he had to gasp.

Owen had meant to inject Ianto with the painkillers but as he had taken Ianto's wrist and pushed up his sleeve he had faltered.

Ianto's arm was riddled with needle holes, from wrist to the crook of his elbow, which was bruised and swollen from a violent cluster of pinpricks. Jack's eyes widened as he looked. Owen let Ianto's arm go and the injured man curled back up again. Owen reached for Ianto's other arm and exposed the same expanse of skin, to find it was no better. Then he looked at Ianto's ankles and calves.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Owen snapped. He looked up at Ianto, who cowered.

"Ianto, what's been injected into you? Do you know?" Owen asked.

Jack almost thought he was going to have to order Ianto to answer but his voice, rough and almost whispered, answered Owen.

"Amobarbital, Sodium Pentothal, Valium… erm… and…" he hesitated badly before carrying on. "Heroin… I think… or methadone… and… I don't know… other things… I can't remember…" Ianto's voice wavered, rising in panic, realising he couldn't entirely answer the question.

"All right, it's okay," Owen said, trying to place a reassuring hand on Ianto's arm. Judging by the way he whimpered and flinched, it was far from reassuring. Owen retracted the hand.

"Tosh, we need to analyse a swab, and we need to do the same with a blood sample. Let's not wait until we get back to the hub, we'll try it with the equipment in the SUV. Jack, we need to get moving now, I'll treat him on the way."

"Owen?" Jack asked, at the sudden reaction. Owen looked up, despair flickering over his face.

"I can't risk giving him anything, Jack. Not even a mild painkiller. I don't know what's still in his system. I need to take a good look before I do anything. Let's get him in the vehicle, I can work in there, Tosh can help me. When we get him back, I'll work out what I need to do."

Jack was distracted, and Ianto flinched and pulled back a little as Gwen reversed, she hit the kerb and revved loudly.

"Gwen!" Jack bellowed at her.

"Sorry!" she snapped back. She took her foot off the accelerator and the SUV lurched forward, rolling off the kerb, she pulled forward and took a better run up, bumping over the raised lip and rolling back so the passenger door was past the hedge. Then she stuck her head out of the window to look. Jack opened the passenger door.

"Tosh, make sure we have everything ready so we're not scrabbling about. Jack, help me carry him."

"I've got him," Jack said. He moved to Ianto's side. Owen pulled away, gathering up his kit as quickly as he could, making sure he didn't leave anything in the damp grass. Jack knelt by Ianto and took his arm, looping it around his shoulders. Ianto entire body went rigid at the contact.

"All right Ianto, I'm just going to help you up."

Toshiko took the medical supplies Owen was literally throwing at her and started to put them in, where they would be needed. Jack lifted Ianto, bracing for the effort, but finding it wasn't hard at all. Putting a careful arm around his waist he felt just how frail, and light, Ianto was. Owen didn't need to help him. Jack held on and lifted Ianto off the ground, so that for those few metres to the SUV Ianto's feet didn't touch the floor. Owen ran around the back of the vehicle and clambered in. Jack, as gently as he could put Ianto in, and Owen helped from inside.

If anything hurt, which it had to by Owen's assessment, Ianto gave no indication. He just allowed himself to be put into the middle of the backseat and he sat there, head down, hands neatly in his lap, like a quiet, compliant doll.

Jack had to control himself, to prevent the urge to clamber into the back with Ianto and hold onto him and just assure him that he was safe. He wasn't quite sure where the sudden feeling came from; the sudden protective feeling. For the last seven months the back of his mind had been ranting at his vanished employee, who had nearly got them all killed. And Jack had taken the hint in Owen's words. He would work on Ianto, if… and Owen meant the unspoken if… Ianto could hold out long enough to get back to the hub.

Jack stepped back as Toshiko took the seat next to Ianto. Jack gently shut the door, Owen slammed his and Jack went around to the passenger side to get in next to Gwen. Glancing behind him, Jack saw Owen holding Ianto's arm, trying to find somewhere he could get a blood sample from. Toshiko had a swab and Jack watched her carefully lift Ianto's chin to get it in his mouth and take a sample. Ianto didn't fight her, nor did he really help her. He just sat there, waiting, shivering and just looking like he might shatter into pieces at any moment.

"Owen, kerb," Gwen said. Owen paused what he was doing and Gwen bumped the vehicle down. They all started to reach for their seatbelts and between them Toshiko and Owen strapped Ianto in.

Even the light press of the seatbelt strap felt like fire, but Ianto said nothing. He just sat and felt Toshiko move next to him as she started to analyse the swab she had taken. Ianto felt Owen digging into his arm, swearing under his breath as he tried to find a vein. With his head down Ianto could watch the process.

Owen eventually got it and Ianto watched his blood fill the tube that was then passed to Toshiko. Owen then started checking Ianto's pulse, his heart and his breathing. He moved carefully, talking in a low reassuring tone, which Ianto heard. But Ianto didn't register the words as Owen spoke in an unusual and calm fashion, very aware of the fragile nature of his traumatised patient.

Ianto's eyes rose a little. The heat of the air was making his skin burn, but he didn't say. His eye was starting to sting as well, but again he knew talking of his pain would make it worse. He didn't look up to see where they were going. He wasn't to look up, he wasn't worthy of that. To look at people would make him equal to them and he wasn't, he didn't deserve to be.

Instead he looked at Gwen's leather clad arm, and her jean clad thigh. If he had looked a little higher he would have seen her hands tensed on the steering wheel, her knuckles turning white and her eyes firmly forward as she concentrated on driving. Getting them back as soon as she could, while also staying steady enough to allow Owen and Toshiko to work but she didn't dare look back. She didn't even lift her eyes to the rear-view mirror. Ianto, however, wasn't very interested in her.

"Sorry mate," Owen's voice said. There was a slight twitch in his scalp as Owen pulled out a few hairs and he tried to analyse them. Ianto didn't react, that was nothing more then an itch compared to the rest of the pain.

He shifted his good eye and focussed on Jack. It was Jack, really Jack. Jack had come. Ianto could see the sleeve of his coat, and the tails spread out on the seat. He watched Jack's foot in the foot well, pressing down involuntarily as if he could make Gwen drive faster. From the way he moved Ianto knew Jack was turning now and again to look at him. Ianto didn't lift his head to meet Jack's eyes.

Ianto didn't dare, for fear of what he might find. Jack would inevitably decide his fate.


	3. Chapter 3

Ianto lay on his side on the gurney in the autopsy room. He had made it back to the hub, and been carried inside down to the circular room that was Owen's domain. They had got him onto the bed and laid him down. Toshiko had got in ahead of them and carefully spread a quilted eiderdown over the hard bed in anticipation. Owen hadn't bothered to try and undress Ianto, he had simply cut him out of the ruined collarless shirt and trousers. They were more tears than material, and they were caked with blood, dirt and other things that Owen didn't want to think about.

Now Ianto lay still as Owen treated his raw, scraped feet and Toshiko, who had been curtly told by Owen that this was not the time for modesty, used a sponge to wash down Ianto's back. She dipped it in warm soapy water before running it over Ianto's skin. Four bowls of water had been discarded already, Ianto was filthy. In deference to some level of modesty there was a towel draped over Ianto's hips to hide his groin, but everything else was exposed. Every bruised, damaged and emaciated part of him was on display. And it was hard to look at.

Toshiko focussed on one small space at a time, trying not to see the stark ribs and bumpy backbone. Ianto didn't seem to care, one painful indignity was clearly very much like another. He lay there, and let Owen treat him, Toshiko wash him and Jack hovered around his head. Jack folded his arms across his chest and looked down at Ianto.

"So who is it that is after you?" Jack asked.

"I'm not sure, Sir."

Ianto answered in a dull tone, he had stopped stammering. All emotion and panic seemed to have gone from him. He just answered the questions he was asked in a dull tone.

"Did you know them prior to them taking you?"

"No, Sir. I did not."

"When did they take you?"

Ianto flatly told them the date and then added. "It was thirteen days after I left the hub that morning."

Jack raised his eyebrows. Thought about that and then asked.

"Have they treated you like this since then?"

Ianto's breath hitched, it might have been Owen gently wrapping up Ianto's left foot that caused the reaction but it might have been the question. Owen looked up, carefully put tape over the end of the bandage to seal it. He stayed where he was and watched for a moment.

"Yes Sir."

"Exactly why?"

Ianto's eyes rolled, he shook his head a little. "They wanted information, Sir."

"What sort of… ?" Jack started to ask.

"Jack?" Owen's voice cut across his in a curt tone, ending the question before he finished asking it. Jack lifted his eyes and glared at Owen.

Owen picked up a sheaf of papers from the side, and inclined his head. Jack raised his eyebrows and headed up the stairs after him. Toshiko watched them go, pausing for a moment but then she looked down, staring again at the patch of skin she was washing and went back to what she was doing. Ianto didn't move, but he was well aware of the movement of the people around him.

Owen left the autopsy room and spun on his heel with his back to his work station. Jack followed and reaching out snatched the papers from Owen.

"What?" he snapped and then frowned. He looked up and raised his eyebrows at Owen. Owen growled and snatched the papers back – nothing more than some boring UNIT report on some new micro-organisms they seemed to have found. It had been sat on the side in the autopsy room for about four weeks and Owen still hadn't got past the first paragraph. He turned and threw the papers down onto his desk and rounded on Jack.

"What the fuck do you think you are doing?"

"What exactly? Nothing with micro-organisms, or did you read the report wrong?"

"Don't be flippant! Down there," Owen waved a hand in the direction of the autopsy room. "What the hell are you doing? This is no time to be running an interrogation!"

"We need to know what's going on, Owen. Have you seen the state of him?"

"Yes, I have seen the state of him. I've just spent the last hour and a half patching him back up. I am well aware of the state of him, outwardly at least, inside we've still got to see about. Now is not the time for you to be adding to the stress."

"He's fine, he's calm enough."

Owen's eyes widened. "Yeah, he looks it, because that is probably a way he's worked out how to cope with the torture he's been through. He's just waiting for you to strike. What he needs at this moment in time is medical care, food and rest. You go on like that and he is going to crash, physically, mentally or probably both just to put the icing on his torture cake!"

Jack frowned. Owen rolled his eyes.

"Give him a chance to get some rest. Proper rest, without any worry that someone is going to question him, hurt him or… drug him."

"What like you're probably going to do at some point?" Jack snapped and then winced. He closed his eyes and sighed. "Sorry, Owen, sorry, that wasn't meant."

"Jack, all right, I know we're stressed and I know we need to know but you can't do it now. Let him at least sleep for a bit, give him a break."

"Like you care about Ianto, after what you said."

Owen straightened up and glared at Jack. "Maybe so, but when it comes down to it, the welfare of my patient comes first, and at this moment in time, that happens to be Ianto. If you want something to do Jack, how about you check the locks, because it doesn't matter what you find out from him, no doubt whoever did this will come knocking."

"We don't know that."

"Jack, he either got away, or they let him go and they didn't need to track him, where the hell else was he going to go, because what else were we going to do when he called. Now if you don't mind I have a severely battered, malnourished and possibly drug addicted patient to deal with. I will let you know how he is when I have finished running tests, all right!"

Owen spun and stalked away, going back down into the room to deal with Ianto. Jack felt his face smart slightly, mainly because he knew Owen was right, as frustrating as it was, Ianto needed leaving alone. Jack turned as the sirens went and the door opened heralding Gwen's arrival with her hefting several carrier bags. She came in, jogging up the stairs to Jack. She glanced into the autopsy room.

Toshiko was still working, she had taken hold of Ianto's elbow, lifting his arm so she could wipe his side and trying not to cringe from embarrassment she washed around his armpit and down the underside of his arm. Gwen looked away. It wasn't what Toshiko was doing, not in itself, it was just the way Ianto lay there, his expression not entirely focussed as he just let her get on with it. Instead she looked back to Jack, who was just as unsettling to look at as she registered the expression on his face.

"I got what you said. I wasn't sure about the size. I looked at the measurements in the label but, I went for medium, I wasn't sure. I got tee-shirts, sweatshirts and bottoms. And I got this, Owen asked for it."

Jack frowned as Gwen lifted out a packet of powdered baby formula. She turned to talk down into the autopsy room, raising her voice a little.

"I got it, and soup… I though soup would be easy… we can heat it and put it in a cup for him to drink… and I thought about fruit but he might not want to eat too much, so I bought a smoothie thing…" Gwen said.

"What the hell is this for?" Jack asked taking the baby formula packet and frowning at it. Owen glared up from dealing with Ianto, who wasn't paying any attention whatsoever as Owen scanned him again… and again….

"It highly nutritious, gives a huge amount of vitamins, iron and all sorts in one short dose. We need to give him something good and do it quickly, it seemed quick."

"Should I make some up?" Gwen asked.

"Not yet, Toshiko, I need you to run a scan on all the defences," Jack suddenly snapped. "Gwen take over from her. Tosh, we need to expect that they know he's here, and we need to be ready. Any gaps, I need you to isolate and close them. Gwen, help Owen."

"Then Gwen can go and make some formula up," Owen snapped. He moved around to take the sponge and bowl off Toshiko. "I can finish here. I'm just waiting for the rest of the scans to run. What are you going to do?" Owen looked up at Jack.

Jack shrugged, and he slowly looked down at Owen and Ianto in the autopsy room.

"I'm going to set up some accommodation for our guest."

Ianto was the only person not to be upset or shocked by Jack's choice of accommodation for him. The other three objected to putting him into the cell, even though it was the first one in the row, on the first level. Cell One, slightly bigger than the others on the row and close to the hot water pipes that ran through the Torchwood installation.

As Jack carried him, again, it was not an issue to move him easily, Jack just lifted him. Ianto was light, dangerously so. The others objected but Jack had made arrangements for the cell.

He had found an inflatable mattress which was now tucked on the far side of the space. Jack had covered it with six blankets and had found four more with which to wrap Ianto up in, so he could sleep. Down here he could be quiet and sleep. Jack put him down on the bed and laid Ianto out, pulling the other sheets up around him. Ianto's eyes flickered and dropped.

"Jack, just lift him a minute."

He sighed but complied, helping Ianto up again. Owen crouched down and gently opened Ianto's mouth, forcing a pill into it. He then lifted Ianto's chin and encouraged him to drink some water. Ianto wasn't exactly co-ordinated but Owen mopped up the mess with a towel he had brought with him. Then he backed off and stood up.

"Okay, Jack, put him down."

Jack did, and he carefully arranged Ianto's limbs as his eyes flickered and exhaustion took him again. Jack tucked him in, kneeling close to Ianto, stroking the hair off his face and feeling the heat surging off his skin.

"Christ, Owen, is he going to be all right?"

"I'd say I don't know, but let's face it Jack, he's made himself go this far. I don't think we've lost him quite yet."


	4. Chapter 4

Gwen and Toshiko had gone home. Owen refused to leave, rudely and flatly. Jack hadn't really had much of a leg to stand on. Most of the monitors in the hub were now tuned to Ianto's cell, watching as he slept peacefully. Scans were running over his system, just checking Ianto over for any change in his condition. He could be drug addicted, his organs were under strain, his blood pressure was low, and he was a mess. Jack didn't blame Owen for insisting on staying. What else could he do, he was a doctor with a seriously ill patient to care for.

But early that morning Owen was taking a nap on the sofa, Ianto woke from four hours of sleep and Jack made his move.

Ianto opened his eyes. He felt tired, and as he moved the shooting riot of fire ran up and down his body. Shifting slightly he tensed at the pain as the mattress dipped; it shot up around his bruised ribs. He felt hot, unbearably so, and it wasn't usually something he complained about. Most of the time he was cold. Ianto pushed the blankets away and lifted his head a little. The first thing he saw was the clear panel at the front of the cell. Ianto paused and stared at it, he forgot about feeling hot as he felt the chills inside as he didn't quite register where he was.

Had they moved him? Ianto stared and stared at the spot he could see, the surface was slightly smeared, it needed a good clean. Shifting on the bed again he winced and realised he was lying on something soft, he stared at the pillow and let his head turn to take in the blankets he was wrapped up in. His hand clenched on the woollen material, his panic rising. He was not used to comforts, everything was usually hard, and cold, and painful. All he could think of for those few seconds was they must have come up with some new plan, a new change in tactic.

Still, some instinct, deep down, drove him and he moved again, slowly rising up on all fours. The blankets covering him up slid away, flopping down as he rose and he turned to look at the sleeping platform on the other side of the cell. It structure and size was familiar, and he turned his head to look at the iron door on the wall behind him. Although it was sluggish, hardly able to put anything coherent together, his mind worked, and he forced himself to run back over events, what he could remember. It sometimes didn't pay to do that, but this time a chain reaction occurred and after a moment, he started to recognise where he was.

It was Torchwood Three, he was in the vaults, locked away. Ianto's mind rolled with the recent events, they had come for him, Jack had come for him when he had called. Ianto winced as he moved, looking down at his tightly bandaged feet, the clean soft clothes – a grey tracksuit that looked little better than a prison suit, but it didn't matter. It didn't matter he was locked away, he could hardly expect Jack to trust him, and it was settling. In recent months his entire life had been one bare room after another; it was oddly reassuring to him.

But he gasped and tensed as he heard the sounds, of metal echoing around the stony space, a gentle rhythmic sound that he soon realised was footsteps coming down the old iron staircase that lay in the corridor beyond. Ianto pressed himself back against the wall, curling his legs under him and reaching out one hand to press against the stone wall behind him. His other hand he wrapped around himself, reaching up to grab the material of the sweatshirt he was wearing. By automatic reaction his head went down and he stared at the lower part of the clear cell wall and waited.

He recognised the boots immediately. They were Jack's. Ianto had spent the last few months knowing who was there by their footwear, and the sound and pace of their footsteps. Jack walked up and stopped by the door in his usual unhurried fashion, his strides long and confident. He paused there for a moment, then there was a gentle sound and Ianto watched the door sweep back and Jack's feet stepped into the cell.

Ianto pressed himself back against the wall, ignoring the pain as his aching body pushed back against the wall. His right hand stretched out, trying to find the corner of the cell. He couldn't quite reach, so he pressed his palm back against the stone wall, hitched a breath and waited. He didn't look up as Jack paused, instead he regarded his boots, they were pointing in his direction so Ianto could assume Jack was looking at him. Ianto waited.

After a moments pause, which seemed to stretch out eternally for Ianto he watched as Jack's feet turned and there was a gentle clatter as he put something down on the other side of the room. Ianto risked bringing his head up a little higher, it was only looking into people's faces that was forbidden, to see what was happening. He stared at the silver box on the sleeping platform and watched as Jack flicked open the catches. Ianto watched, shivering slightly as Jack lifted out a black, rectangular device, turning it in his hands, so it was the right way up. Then he swivelled around and put it on the floor in the centre of the cell.

Ianto lowered his head, staring down and seeing his body shift as he felt a shiver of panic. His legs moved as his thighs tensed and his feet started to throb. He moved a little, going a little further away on the bed, and his fingers dug into the mortar between the stones as he watched Jack's competent hands click something into place. As Jack turned a switch, several green lights flickered on and Ianto flinched, a sound of strangled fear forced it's way out of his ever tightening throat. Blood started to pound in his head, and his heart hammered erratically.

"Ianto," Jack's voice was low and calm as he suddenly addressed him. There was no real emotion to his voice as he spoke. "It's a lie detector, if you say anything that's untrue the lights will turn red. Do you understand?"

Ianto took a second to answer after he heard the question, he nodded his head tentatively, and managed to find his voice, although it was a rather strangled croak. "Yes, Sir."

Jack slowly stood up. Ianto followed Jack's boots as they came towards the bed. Jack bent down and Ianto again saw Jack's hands and the strong muscles of his forearms as he reached for the bedding that had slithered from around him as he had got up. Jack lifted two of the sheets, pulled them out a little and then started to wrap them around Ianto. He eased Ianto forward to put the blanket between him and the wall and tucked it so insistently around his shoulders that Ianto found the hand that had been clenched on his shirt grappling for them to hold the sheets around his body.

"Best we keep you warm," Jack said carefully. Ianto watched every movement as Jack crouched again, so close to him that he caught Jack's familiar scent, it made his throat tighten again but he didn't dare move, despite the instinct to curl up and huddle away. Although he had asked Jack to come for him, to help him, Ianto didn't expect Jack to be too kind to him, not after what he had done.

He flinched again as something moved close to him and his eyes, or rather eye, focussed on Jack's hands again as he produced a bottle of water. They twisted the top and there was a familiar crack as the plastic seal was ripped open, Jack put it down with the cap still partially on and produced a straw, wrapped up neatly in a cellophane packet. Pulling it free of the packet, he removed the bottle top and dropped the straw in before offering it to Ianto. Since Ianto was too stunned and frightened to move and take the bottle himself, Jack helped him, lifting his chin a little and guiding the straw into his mouth. Ianto obligingly drank, his mind slowly starting to comprehend that the water wasn't laced with anything, Jack had opened it, and the straw in front of him. He swallowed as much as his could, feeling it loosen his throat, the cool water easing the panic. His stomach ached dully, but the food he had been given earlier had helped him. He didn't resist as Jack took the water away from him.

"Better not make you sick, Owen will be furious," Jack commented. He put the bottle down on the floor, leaving it close by Ianto before slowly standing up and stepping away. Ianto watched his progress as he walked across the cell, carefully stepping around the still flickering lie detector and Ianto watched the movement as Jack sat himself down on the sleeping platform, leaning forward to rest his arms on his thighs, lacing his fingers together. There was a pause and Ianto heard Jack take a breath.

"After you left the hub, that morning, where did you go?"

"Home," Ianto said dully. "I packed, and took as much money as I could."

"You ran away," Jack said. "Where were you planning to go?"

"Nowhere," Ianto said. "I just hitched a lift, if I bought tickets then you might have been able to find me, I just travelled, just to get away."

Jack released a breath. "Someone did find you, where were you?"

Ianto blinked, shaking his head a little, trying to clear his memories to focus down on what Jack was asking. There was a heavy silence as Jack waited for the answer.

"Sheffield," Ianto eventually said.

"How did they find you?"

"I'm not sure, I thought I was careful."

"Careful about what? Why would anyone else have even been looking for you?"

"I didn't have much money, there were some Torchwood protocols I could use to gain access to certain accounts. I couldn't use my own."

"Course not, I was tracking them. So what accounts?"

Ianto gave a heavy swallow, he watched Jack shift slightly, starting to sit back. He could just imagine the steely glint to Jack's blue eyes as they stared at him.

"Old accounts from Torchwood One, I was using them to… help Lisa. I couldn't exactly use accounts from here, someone would have spotted it."

"There's still access to all that old stuff?" Jack asked. Ianto nodded.

"I could access it from the computers in the hub, shift some of the data and money around a bit."

"How could you know any of the codes? You wouldn't have had access to any of that information, you were just a Junior Researcher."

"Not until I came here."

"Ah," Jack said. He sat forward again. "Another reason to wangle your way in?"

"Yes, Sir."

"So, how could those accounts have got you… kidnapped?" Jack asked, sounding like he wasn't sure if that was the word for it.

"I needed access to part of the server. There's no where really powerful beyond here to do it. I was using a computer at an internet café, but I needed to create the programme to gain access. I knew how to do it…"

"But you needed to work on one machine over time to write the programme."

"Yes."

"There were places you could have used, if you found somewhere with a big enough mainframe."

"If I got my way in there, took a job anywhere like that I'd end up on a system somewhere. I didn't even want to risk using an alias. If I came up on any CCTV network or database, you would have flagged it."

"Assuming we were looking that hard," Jack said. Ianto cringed.

"I couldn't take the risk."

"True. So how did they grab you?"

"I was working at the internet café, just general maintenance, and part time, cash in hand, no questions asked, and no records, but I managed to access the old Torchwood server and get what I needed."

"And you didn't think we'd flag that?" Jack asked.

"I'd hidden some of it on the system, it was a risk but… I was hoping I would have enough time to get what I needed, try and get away, new identity."

"How hard were you really trying, Ianto?" Jack asked. Ianto tucked himself down a little further, and he tilted his head away from Jack.

"Ianto?"

"Not very," Ianto said. The flickering lights on the lie detector stayed green.

"So, someone found you, when?"

"Thirteen days after."

"What happened?" Jack asked.

"Late night, the café was still open, I said I would lock up. They came in acting like it was a robbery, there wasn't much money on the premises, I got knocked out and the next thing I know, I'm in a van and…"

"Do you know where they took you?"

Ianto shook his head. "They kept me blindfolded, a lot, at the beginning."

"At the beginning, you don't know how long for though?"

Ianto shook his head, "It was just dark rooms, and then they moved me a few times, I think."

"How many times?"

"Three, or four… I'm not sure. I was drugged for a while that time. It might have just been a different room, they did that."

"Moved you around?" Jack asked. Ianto nodded dully.

"I think so."

"Did you recognise any of them?"

"No, I never really saw any of them clearly," Ianto said.

"They kept you blindfolded for most of it?"

"Some of it."

"Didn't you ever get a look at any of them, any other time?"

"No," Ianto whispered, his voice lowering.

"And what did they want from you?"

"Information, they asked about what I was doing, and how I did it."

"Just that?"

"At first."

"Did they ask anything about Torchwood?"

Ianto nodded.

"Say yes or no Ianto."

"Yes Sir," Ianto said.

"What did they want to know about Torchwood?"

"Codes, security information, data access."

"Did they ask just about Torchwood 1, or did they ask about us, Torchwood 3?"

"They asked."

"What about Torchwood 3?"

"Access codes, security systems and the layout."

Ianto cringed back as Jack drew in a long heavy breath and released it slowly.

"Ianto, did you give them any of this information?"

"No," Ianto said and then whimpered as the lights on the lie detector suddenly flickered red. They had been steadily stayed green throughout the entire conversation until that point. Ianto hadn't lied, he hadn't wanted to lie. Ianto saw Jack lean further forward, as if he needed to look harder, just to take in the flashing light. Ianto shuddered and felt tears rush into his eyes, the black box and the lights blurred. His swollen eye started to sting.

"I don't know," his voice rose, catching slightly as his throat tightened again. "I used old codes, defunct information but I don't think they believed it. They asked me again, over and over and it hurt and they gave me something and I got so confused. I can't remember what I said."

Ianto screamed as a hand gently touched his shoulder. He hadn't seen Jack's advance, and he would have pitched sideways, trying to find the corner of the cell except Jack took him firmly, pulling him back onto the mattress. Ianto's cries died down to whimpers and he tried to curl up, getting himself ready for what was to come.

"I think that's enough for now. Come on."

Ianto went with the movement, his body going limp as Jack lifted him and then laid him back down on the mattress. His body started to ache all over again, heat rising up in his body, although he felt so cold inside. He didn't register Jack putting him down, or tucking the sheets around him, or gently running his fingers through Ianto's slightly long and dull, lank hair. Ianto shook in shock, curling his mind up inside himself, the edges of his consciousness darkening around him as he fought for oblivion. Some part of him registered Jack's gentle voice.

"Come on, you get some rest now."

Then thankfully, for Ianto, there was nothing.


	5. Chapter 5

When Gwen and Toshiko arrived back at the hub, Owen was ranting at Jack, very vocally.

"I go to sleep for moment…!"

"Five hours actually," Jack said calmly in the face of the storm. Gwen and Toshiko gazed at Owen in shock, and then looked to Jack, wondering what the hell he had done. They could probably guess that it had something to do with Ianto.

"What's going on?" Gwen asked. Owen glared at her.

"I take a nap… I needed some rest and at that point this idiot…!" Owen waved an angry hand at Jack. "… decides to interrogate Ianto and traumatise the hell out of him. Like he hasn't had it enough all ready!"

"He is fine. He was fine until he panicked himself."

Owen exhaled heavily, his nostrils flaring as he tried to keep a lid on his temper.

"What did he panic about?" Gwen asked. Jack turned and looked at her.

"He's not entirely clear on some things, the lie detector picked up on a wrong answer, and he panicked when he corrected himself."

"Lie detector?" Gwen asked in mild horror. She hefted the two carrier bags she was holding and then thought to put them down on the table. Toshiko glanced around, sensing a rise in tension.

"It's not an invasive device, it just reads the speech patterns and corresponding brainwaves of whoever is talking, and the lights turn red if you're lying. It's accurate. What did he say?"

Jack grimaced. "He may or may not have given his captors the access codes to this hub."

"Shit!" Owen said. "No wonder he upset himself, he probably thought you'd kill him for that. What the fuck did you use the lie detector for?"

"Because then I'd get clear answers and Ianto wouldn't have to worry about convincing me that whatever he said was true. I think he really wanted to convince himself he hadn't given anything away but in the end his sub-conscious wouldn't allow him to be fooled."

"So he gave away the information?" Gwen asked. Jack shook his head.

"He doesn't know. By the sound of it they asked the same questions repeatedly and using the drugs and torture just confused him to the point he didn't know what he was telling them."

"Mind you, he did say he was given what are known as 'truth'…" Owen put that in rather sarcastic inverted commas, "… drugs. They don't exactly do what they say on the tin, they can make you a little more talkative, and more likely in his case, can make the mind mix fact with fantasy."

"So he might not have told them?" Toshiko said, trying to ease the responsibility off Ianto. Jack sent her a flash of a smile.

"There's no point blaming Ianto, it wasn't his fault. It just might take him a while to work out that we know that."

"Yeah, you really helped with that!" Owen snapped at Jack. Jack turned on him with a frown.

"Hey! As soon as he started to panic I backed off! I hardly got that much information out of him, and some of it wasn't hugely clear. Learning that we are not about to hurt him is something he's going to have to work out on his own, starting now!"

"Anyway, they wouldn't have been the correct codes," Toshiko reasoned. "I altered them."

"The usual method, or something different?" Jack asked. "And from what I gleaned, I think he had hidden codes, he was using parts of the old Torchwood 1 server information."

"Oh," Toshiko said. "I didn't change those codes."

"No, good thing we found that out," Jack said with a sidelong look at Owen.

Owen snorted again and rounded on Gwen. "Did you get that extra stuff I asked for?"

"Yeah," she pointed at the carrier bags.

"Good, there's a sheet in the kitchen area with what and when Ianto should be fed, just go and make him something for breakfast. I'll go and check him out and make sure he's all right!"

Owen turned and stormed off. Gwen gaped at him, the expression on her face one of utter shock. As he stormed in the direction of the vaults, with his medical kit, Owen paused at the archway and spun round.

"Please!" he added rather forcefully before spinning round again and disappearing.

"Great, I'm now head of catering," Gwen muttered to herself as she gathered up the bags and headed off. Jack watched the pair of them go and then looked at Toshiko, who was looking around to find something that was a good enough distraction.

"Tosh, I need you to change all the security codes for this place, and see if you can get onto any old Torchwood 1 servers, even if they look like they have been decommissioned."

"A lot of them were handed over to UNIT, what we didn't want anyway. Should I contact them?"

"No. Hack in if you have to, be subtle, I don't want anyone to pick up on the fact that we are looking. First I need all the locks changed here. If Ianto has given them the information about what he did then there is the possibility that they can get into this place."

"What happens if they have?" Toshiko asked. She winced as she said the next thing. "What if Ianto is their way in?"

"That's why he stays locked in the cell. Put a security shield around it, and increase the monitors, not just medical scans but anything else, changes in chemical compositions, air temperature, just anything you think of! We don't just need to protect him, we need to protect ourselves."

Ianto wasn't asleep. He was lying very still when Owen got to the cell, still fuming a little but he didn't want to fume too much in front of Ianto. Owen looked down at him now, trying to summon up some semblance of anger. But he couldn't. He was pissed off at Ianto, they all had every right to be annoyed with him. But at the moment, Owen wasn't seeing him as Ianto, not entirely. He was seeing his wounds, and the treatment he needed. Ianto wouldn't become a person, a whole, entire, identifiable, person until the damage had gone. It was the only way he had sometimes been able to work, and treat wounds, as people came into the hospital. They were just their injuries, the other doctors worked the same, they never called people by their names, as they passed through the hospital doors, they called them by their injuries. There were so many on Ianto, Owen wouldn't have been able to come up with a name for him, except perhaps 'that poor battered sod in the cell'.

Owen opened the door and stepped through. Ianto moved under the covers in a way that indicated he was aware of Owen stood there, but he didn't look up. Owen crouched down and put the medical kit on the floor and opened it up. Ianto slowly started to sit up, getting the hint that something was about to happen. His head stayed firmly down, but he lifted himself up, his breathing sounding tense as the pain caught him.

"Okay, easy," Owen said, moving to help Ianto sit up. "I just want to check you over again. It won't take long."

Ianto didn't respond other than to sit where Owen told him. It was creepy, Owen decided. The way he just did as he was told and sitting there like a rag doll. Owen exhaled carefully and pulled out his stethoscope and he lifted up Ianto's clothes. Taking the hint Ianto held them up for him.

"Might be cold," Owen said planting the stethoscope on Ianto chest. There was a slight quiver of tension but nothing beyond that. Then Owen forgot everything but what he was concentrating on. He ran though checking Ianto's heartbeat, breathing, blood pressure. Things still seemed a little erratic, but they were no worse.

"Are you feeling sick, or anything like that?"

Ianto shook his head. "My stomach hurts a bit."

"Since when?"

Ianto murmured in confusion, clearly having no concept of time. Owen thought about that and then asked.

"Before or after we gave you something to eat?"

"After."

"Okay," Owen said. That one was probably obvious. Owen rooted out his thermometer, turned it on with a beep and started to put the tip in Ianto's ear. He flinched away with a whimper. Owen reached up and steadied Ianto's head. "Ianto it's just a thermometer, I'm taking your temperature."

Ianto stayed still, but Owen could see the sudden ripple of tension. It was the most extreme reaction he had given so far, but it occurred every time it looked like he was going to do something else. Owen looked at the result and sighed.

"How do your feet feel?"

"Itching a bit," Ianto said.

"Any sharp pain?" Owen said, trying to sound patient. He wasn't entirely sure he ever managed it but it seemed to work on Ianto, he shook his head.

"No."

Owen ran another scan, it had only been a few hours since the last time he had examined Ianto. There wasn't much of a change, but nothing had got worse. Owen frowned as he watched the reading and then held out his hand.

"Ianto, give me your wrist."

Ianto complied, holding out his right wrist and placing it in Owen's waiting hand. Owen ran another scan, ignoring another ripple of tension as he heard Gwen's light footsteps.

"Ianto, how did this get broken?"

"They broke it."

Owen growled, Ianto flinched, Gwen gasped. "His wrist's broken."

"No, his wrist was broken, it's healed now. There also evidence of an old fracture on his kneecap, and he's had his ribs broken, more than once."

Owen started to carefully pack everything away, but he got out a bottle of pills, tipping two out into his palm."

"You brought water down with you?"

"No, but I've got some more of the formula, if that helps," Gwen moved into the cell, looking around for somewhere to put the tray. In the end she opted for the sleeping platform. Owen looked at Ianto, who was now pressing himself even further back into the wall, if that was possible.

"Ianto, it's just Gwen, she's brought you something to eat, and I want you to take these as well."

Ianto's head came up a little to look at the pills in Owen's hand. Gwen passed him the glass of baby formula and Owen took it. Ianto allowed Owen to put one pill in his mouth, and he took a sip of the drink, and then he did the same with the other. Owen watched Ianto, who kept his head down the entire time. Then he looked up at Gwen, who had worry written all over her face.

Slowly Owen stood up, picking up his medical kit.

"Jack doesn't seem to have done any damage," he said to her in a low tone. "It's not been that long since I treated him, so I won't start checking his dressings."

Gwen listened to Owen, her eyes on Ianto, but he didn't give any indication that he was aware of them talking.

"Ianto, I brought breakfast!" she said with sudden false brightness. She turned and picked up the tray bringing it over and putting it down by the bed. "Scrambled eggs, and some fruit, and milk. Here."

She picked up the plate of eggs and the fork she had brought down with her. As she offered them to Ianto he took the plate with one shaking hand, putting it down in his lap and then took the fork with the other. He couldn't really co-ordinate himself, as he tried to eat a forkful of egg; crumbs tumbled off into his lap, some landing on the plate, some scattering down onto his tracksuit. He struggled to eat the first mouthful and then whimpered in distress at the mess he was making. He almost dropped the fork and then the plate, but Gwen, reacting swiftly took them both off him.

"It's all right," she said soothingly to Ianto. She put the fork on the plate and carefully picked off the crumbs dropping them onto the edge of the nearby tray with calm efficiency. "Shall I help?"

She didn't wait for a reply from Ianto. Instead she carefully loaded the fork with eggs and with a far steadier hand than Ianto's offered it out to him. Owen watched as Ianto's lifted his head a fraction and opened his mouth, letting Gwen feed him. Owen frowned as he watched.

Gwen carried on, almost oblivious to him watching as she spoke to Ianto in a low reassuring tone, addressing him like he was a baby that was reluctant to eat it's food. It did look like Ianto wasn't registering what she was saying, he was just automatically reacting to Gwen was doing.

"If he can't eat it all don't force him," Owen said. Gwen acknowledged him with a mild flick of her head but the rest of her focus stayed on Ianto. She speared a large chuck of egg and offered it to him again, Ianto opened his mouth and took it. Gwen glanced at the plate, Ianto had eaten about three quarters of what she had made up. She scraped a few more lumps together and gathered them up.

"Bit more?" she asked, and offered. Ianto opened his mouth again.

Owen thought about it. There was no way to really know what had happened, the only thing Owen could go on was the injuries. The scans had highlighted old wounds, scar tissue and evidence of broken bones. Things that had occurred and healed over the last few months were deliberate damage. What was on Ianto now, wasn't entirely like that.

There were bruises where he had been punched and kicked. Part of the bruising around his eye spoke of someone kicking him hard in the head, and his ribs had most certainly been used as a punch bag, Owen didn't even want to contemplate the damage on his feet, the burning part anyway. But Ianto had walked on them, and the gashes on his knees, shins and palms clearly told of him crawling some distance. Owen wondered if that was under his own steam.

He could have been released by whoever had done this, either he was useless or somehow a way in. But all the evidence of his injuries told Owen that he had found his way to the phone box, that he had remembered the emergency protocol to get him through to Jack, and he had taken Jack's advice to hide, and he had just waited for them to come to him. Probably not even doubting that they would.

"Are you all right with him, Gwen? Can you get him settled again when he's finished?"

"Sure," Gwen said absently as she scraped the remaining egg together on the plate to feed him the last little bit. Then there was a small fruit salad and the milk. Owen didn't doubt Ianto would calmly take it all. Satisfied that Gwen could cope Owen turned away, heading back upstairs, still contemplating what was going on.

Ianto was clearly rattled by what had been done to him. He flinched every time any of them came too close, or moved too quickly. That was just the instinct that had developed over the last few brutal months. But Owen started to wonder if there wasn't something more. Something that perhaps even Ianto didn't realise he had.

Owen paused at the doorway, watching Jack and Toshiko. She was typing away at her computer, all her focus on the monitors in front of her. Jack was peering over her shoulder, making comments now and again, with Toshiko throwing comments back.

Maybe, Owen thought, just maybe, whether Ianto knew it or not, and after everything that happened. Maybe Ianto trusted them. He hadn't fought any attempt to help him and Owen didn't think that was just down to the life being tortured out of him.

Owen stepped forward and Jack looked up at him. a frown on his face and a slight question to his eyes. And just possibly, Owen added, after everything that had happened and been done, Ianto, in fact, trusted Jack.

"Is he all right?" Jack asked, concern clear in his voice. And with a mild amount of contrition, as if he was trying to tell Owen that perhaps he should have waited before questioning Ianto. It made Owen give ground a little.

"He's all right; Gwen's just helping him with his breakfast."

Jack nodded, his eyes flickered to the screen nearby and Owen realised it was all being played through the CCTV. He saw Gwen move the blankets to help Ianto lie down again.

"Well, we've got an idea of what they were after; the only thing that remains is trying to work out who 'they' are. We need to talk to him again Owen."

Jack looked at him, waiting. Owen sighed. With the thoughts he had going on in his head, he could only think of one answer.

"Okay, let's try it. Carefully!"


	6. Chapter 6

As Jack set up, Owen waited outside the cell. It was probably best not to crowd Ianto anyway, Jack thought. He was sat up in the bed again, having shifted up when the pair of them had come down. They had left him an hour or so, to let him settle after his breakfast. Ianto stayed still with his head down as Jack switched the lie detector on. It probably wasn't entirely necessary to use it, but Jack decided to keep a routine just for now.

Slowly he stood up and moving over to Ianto, gently put the covers back round him. He felt a little gratified that Ianto flinched less. It was probably more the fact that he knew what to expect now rather than him relaxing in their presence. Jack however ignored any ripples in tension and just settled the covers around him.

Jack then backed off, stepping around the lie detector and sitting on the sleeping platform again. Ianto didn't look up, but by the subtle movements, Jack knew he was following his every move. He sat down in much the same position he had before and regarded Ianto carefully.

"Ianto, I just want to ask you some more questions, okay?"

"Yes, Sir," Ianto said dully, but there was a mild, quavering edge to his voice. Jack ignored Owen's scowl. He had already set some serious ground rules for Jack, and Owen was scanning every response Ianto gave.

"I want you to stop at the first sign of panic, Jack." Owen had said, as they stood by the staircase, before heading towards Ianto's cell. "I'll check his levels anyway, the last thing we need is him throwing a panic attack. If there's anything, I'll let you know."

"Understood," Jack had said. He did understand Owen's careful approach, but they also didn't really have time to be that careful.

"And if you're not sure of anything, or can't remember clearly, then just say so okay," Jack added now. He didn't want Ianto panicking about that. It was what had bothered him last time, the fact that he had been caught with a lie, one that he hadn't really meant to tell. Maybe he was hoping that his mind would decide it was true. And Owen was right, under any other circumstances Jack would kill someone if they had betrayed him like that.

"Yes, Sir," Ianto's voice tightened a little. Jack winced.

"Do you want some water?" Jack asked. He had brought another bottle, he reached for it and broke the seal open and produced a straw from his shirt pocket.

"I'm fine, thank you," Ianto said with extreme politeness. Jack ignored the response, somewhat anyway. He stepped back over, and placed the bottle on the floor, a little away from the mattress, but close enough that Ianto only had to lean a little further forward and he could pick it up.

"I'll put it there, just in case." Jack didn't think for one second that Ianto would in actual fact take it, at any point during this conversation, but at least he might get a hint that they cared enough to think of him. Jack did note that Ianto didn't flinch quite as much as the last time, as if he was starting understand what was happening.

As Jack sat back down he watched him for a moment, his shoulders were a little hunched, and there was a tightness to his body that was evident, even under the layers of loose clothing. There was nothing Jack could really do about that, so he kept his distance and took a breath.

"Ianto, when the two people broke into the café, did you recognise them?"

Ianto shook his head. "They had balaclavas on, I couldn't see any features."

"No tattoos anywhere, or anything like that?" Jack asked. Again Ianto shook his head.

"It was cold, they were covered up, all in black. I just thought they were real robbers."

"Okay, so what happened? Did they just grab you?"

"No, they demanded the money from the safe, I turned to get it and they knocked me out."

"If you just thought they were robbers, you would have been able to deal with them," Jack said. Ianto knew enough to handle himself.

"I was keeping a low profile, fighting off robbers wouldn't be part of that."

Jack nodded, understanding the ploy. If Ianto was trying to keep out of sight, and avoid attention, preventing two robbers from taking any cash, might just draw some attention.

"So what happened next, when you came to in the van?"

"They drove somewhere, I'm not sure how far away it was. It was a garage, or a lock up. They drove into something, a building. I couldn't see, I was blindfolded, they dragged me out and tied my hands over my head."

"And what did they do?"

"They kept asking me my name, and hitting me."

"What did you say?"

"I tried to lie, make it sound like they had made a mistake. They searched me as well, I had my ID on me, I hadn't got rid of it, so they knew who I was."

"They were specifically looking for you?" Jack asked. His eyes rolled to look at Owen, who raised his eyebrows in response. He glanced at the scanner, looked a little unhappy about what he found there, but nodded at Jack to tell him it was all right to continue.

"They said Ianto Jones, I tried to pretend that it was a common name, but they didn't believe me. Then one of them made a phone call."

"To who?" Jack asked. "Did you hear anything?"

"It wasn't very clear, I think he went outside, or something, I could feel cold air. He said he was going to phone the boss."

Jack rolled his shoulders a little, exhaling gently. Ianto heard the sound and jumped, his hand tightening around the blankets. Jack paused, letting him settle again before asking.

"So what did they do with you then?"

"Put me back in the van and drove off. They were going to meet their boss."

"Okay, and you didn't see anything, you were blindfolded the whole time?"

Ianto nodded, then as a pause fell, suddenly added. "They didn't sound local, they weren't from Sheffield, but I'm not sure… maybe London, it wasn't very clear, they shouted a lot."

"All right, so they took you somewhere else, then what happened?"

Ianto shook his head, "I don't remember, they drove, but I don't know for how long and… I think they drugged me. I'm not sure. I just woke up in a cell, that's all I remember." Ianto's voice dropped down to a whisper, as if he was scared to tell Jack that. Like it was a let down that he couldn't say anything useful.

"All right, it's all right Ianto, just try and remember what you can. Did you see those two again, the two that kidnapped you, significantly, can you remember them?"

Ianto shook his head, "no, no I don't think so."

"Who do you remember? Was there anyone in particular? Anything you remember about them?" Jack paused. He didn't want to ask too many questions in the one go, which would just leave Ianto even more confused.

"There were the men in army boots," Ianto said.

"How many?"

"Two, they had on army boots, I think they were soldiers, they walked like it, they walked the same."

"Anything else about them you remember, any significant features?"

Ianto shook his head, Jack didn't feel entirely too surprised by that. "Just boots."

"You didn't see anything else, you just kept your head down."

Ianto nodded, "hurt me, only fit to lick at boots."

Jack winced, he hoped that was a mild slip by Ianto. However, considering the state he was in and the damage that had been inflicted Jack wouldn't have been surprised if that had actually happened.

"Is that why you're keeping your head down, they made you do that?"

Ianto nodded, head going down a little more. Jack glanced sideways, Owen was waving in a 'get off that subject' gesture. Jack treated him to an eye roll and then looked back to Ianto. It was probably not something to concentrate on, plus, he was trying to do nothing more at the moment than get an insight into who these people might be.

"Was there anything else about them you remember? Anything Ianto, there must be something."

"One was Welsh." Ianto actually sounded a little offended by that. It made a change from the fear in his voice, but it didn't last long. "Nothing else, didn't say much, just hurt me."

"Anyone else, was there anyone else you saw often?"

"The man in the biker boots, he had a limp, and the doctor."

That word made Jack jump slightly. For a moment he felt shocked and just a little baffled, but then it occurred to him what Ianto meant. Somebody had been treating the wounds that had been inflicted.

"So, they had someone fixing you up?"

Ianto nodded, "and gave me drugs, they made my head funny."

"What about the man with the biker boots, what did he do?"

"Hurt me too, and asked questions."

"He was the one interrogating you?" Jack asked, again there was another nod. "Was there anything else about him that you remember? What did he sound like?"

"Northern, I think," Ianto said.

"He asked you about Torchwood, about us?"

"Sometimes," Ianto said, his tone lowered a little.

"Only sometimes?" Jack asked. He paused, wondering where this was going. He was trying to lead the interrogation, to find out what he needed to know, but in his own way Ianto was leading him, his answers were making Jack ask different questions. It was as if Ianto knew what he needed to tell Jack, but somehow, probably because of the treatment of the last few months, he couldn't manage to come out and say it.

It wasn't a scenario Jack particularly liked. He rather objected to being led around by the nose but for once, he didn't worry about it too much, if he needed answers and Ianto had to guide him to get them, then that was what Jack would do.

"What else Ianto?" Jack asked, taking the bait. "Did he do anything else?" Jack tried and then added something else, as the structure of the situation occurred to him. "Or was there someone else?"

"There was the man with the crocodile skin shoes," Ianto said, his voice lowering to a fearful whisper. Jack raised his eyebrows, and waited, but Ianto offered nothing else.

"Was he the man in charge? Was he the boss?" Jack phrased the question twice, just to be on the safe side. Ianto nodded.

"Yes."

"So he did most of the talking? He wanted to know about us, about Torchwood?"

"Yes, Sir."

Jack sat forward a little, ignoring a movement to his right as Owen waved at him. The gestures were curt, but there was something frantic about them. Jack decided to push it just a little further.

"Did you recognise him Ianto?"

"No, Sir."

The light on the lie detector stayed green, but it wasn't lost on Jack that Ianto had significantly gone back to calling him Sir, as if he suddenly had to be polite again. It also occurred to him that he hadn't done the same thing to anyone else, it was just him. Ianto had always called him Sir, ever since they had met, but it was, although polite, also a little flirtatious. Now it was done with fear, because Ianto was forced to respect the person he was talking to.

"Was there anything about him that you remember? Did he have an accent?"

"No, Sir, he sounded…" Ianto paused, Jack could see the increasing tension in Ianto, his body shaking a little, and it couldn't be with the cold, the temperature in the cell was being very carefully controlled to keep it at an ambient temperature for him.

"He sounded… cultured… but he didn't have an accent, he didn't sound like he was from anywhere…"

Jack raised his eyebrows at that and was then forced to pay attention to Owen. He had stepped sideways slightly, to put himself further into Jack's eye line. Jack lifted his head to glare at him. Owen glared back. He was very carefully keeping his feet and legs still, restricting the movements to his top half, the part that Ianto wouldn't see because he would keep his head down.

Owen was holding the scanner in one hand and making slashing gestures across his throat in a clear, 'stop it right now', order. Jack wanted to carry on, but whatever Owen was seeing was dictating him to put an end to the interrogation. Jack looked back to Ianto, he was pressing back against the wall, hands tightly clenched on the blankets and his head was lowering, so he could curl up on himself.

"Okay Ianto, it's all right, just one last question, when they moved you, when they took you somewhere else were the same people there again, the soldiers, the doctor and the man with the crocodile skin shoes?"

Ianto gave a whimper at the mention of the last person, but he nodded. Owen was waving like a dervish, his face fuming, but he didn't dare burst in, or bang on the door or anything like that, for fear of scaring Ianto further.

"All right Ianto, that's enough for now, you need to get some more rest."

Jack slowly stood up, his intention to go over to Ianto and tuck him in again. Ianto, however, responded immediately to the words, almost as if they had been drilled into him. He slid down the wall, pushing his legs down the bed under the covers and he kept them tightly around him as he lay down, his eyes now utterly blank, staring steadily at a random spot on the other side of the room. Jack looked at him and then at Owen, who then gave him frustrated, angry gestures. Jack glowered back and pressed his wrist strap to open the cell door, and then he pointed at the lie detector.

Owen looked furious but he took the hint, he came into the room and started to dismantle the machine to take it away, with a very calm front. Jack had to admire him for that sudden switch, clearly the reason he had called a frantic end to the interrogation was serious.

Jack ignored him and concentrated on Ianto, whose eyes were moving, realising both Jack and Owen were in there, which was, Jack realised, a mistake on his part, but there was only one way to rectify it now. He crouched low to Ianto and pulled the covers a little to spread them properly over him and he tucked him in. It wasn't lost on him that as he started to pull on the blankets, Ianto let go, as if he had no right to them anymore.

"All right, Ianto, it's all right, you did fine, everything's fine," Jack soothed as best as he could, and he patted the blankets around him. "Do you want some water?"

Ianto gave a slight, but frantic shake of his head. A clump of hair fell over his forehead and into his eyes, Jack gently lifted it back, although he grimaced as he did so, it felt so sticky.

"Okay, how about I leave it here, just in case you want some later, here, it's right there."

Jack put it just to one side, at the head of the bed, so Ianto knew where it was. By that point Owen had packed up and tucked the lie detector under his arm, he walked out without a word and headed down the corridor. Jack tidied the already tidy blankets one more time and then said to Ianto gently.

"You get some rest now."

Ianto obligingly closed his eyes.

Jack left a little reluctantly, closing the cell door and heading down the corridor to the stairs, where he found Owen practically foaming at the mouth.

"When I said stop it, I meant stop it!"

"I did stop it," Jack said calmly. He felt very calm about all of this. Surely he was the one that should have been fuming.

"Not when I told you to."

"He looked fine, I know he got a little tense."

"A little tense!" Owen hissed. "Jack, his stress levels rocketed. I told you not to push it. His body is fighting for survival, even if you can't see it physically the stress is there!"

"Well, what, what did it?"

"When he got to talking about that last person, the crocodile skin shoes guy. The second he mentioned him, everything in him went wild, blood pressure, heart rate, breathing. He was scared talking about the rest of them, but he was terrified at that point."

"But you heard the conversation. He practically led me to that. It's the guy who's in charge of this, whatever they did to him, it's down to him, and that little group of friends he has."

"Yeah, a doctor, two soldiers and a second-in-command," Owen said, making Jack frown. Owen shrugged and sighed. "What were you getting at? That they are a single entity or part of a large organisation?"

"I don't know, either one could be argued for. But they rooted him out, he could have given himself away with that computer programme but they knew what they were looking for."

"Yeah, it doesn't sound random, does it?" Owen said, and then he sighed and asked. "How the hell do we start looking for them?"


	7. Chapter 7

Ianto wasn't tired, he was awake and his mind was active, but his body was still. He lay down, and was staying down because he had been told to. Jack had told him to get some rest, so Ianto would do that. He did as he was told, because that was what he did. There was nothing else to do.

It was nice thought, what Jack told him to do. He could snuggle under the covers and feel warm, and it felt safe. Ianto didn't know why, there was no reason for him to feel safe here, in Torchwood, but he did. Part of his mind kept pointing out, he had called them, he asked desperately asked Jack for help, and Jack was helping.

When he stopped helping, then Ianto would have reason to worry. For now Ianto knew that Jack had other concerns, but when Jack turned his full attention back to what Ianto had done. Then Ianto would be punished.

Ianto knew it could be bad. Jack was angry with him, however much he tried to hide it, Ianto could see it. He had spent months learning Jack's moods, and had perfectly helped to deal with them, just a discreet presence that Jack appreciated. Until of course, Jack had learnt it was a lie. That all Ianto was, he was nothing more than a lie.

He exhaled and closed his eyes again. Time passed by, and he had no idea how long. It could have been days, hours, months that he had been here in Torchwood, the same as the other places. Ianto had lost his concept of time. It didn't exist, there was just now and the tension of waiting for the next thing. There was the routine, there was always a routine. For now it was nice.

The routine now, for however long it had gone on, consisted of rest, and Gwen bringing meals, and using the drain in the corner as his digestive system got over the shock of food, and then more rest, and Owen coming in to check him, and then, not often but Ianto remembered it, there was Jack. Jack came, and asked him things, so carefully. Ianto didn't like to, but he had to tell him. What use was he to Jack if he didn't tell him what he needed to know? There was no reason to make his punishment worse by lying, was there?

Ianto jerked, lifted his head and then put it down again as he heard footsteps on the stairs, and the low unhurried tread identified itself as Jack. Jack was coming again. Ianto knew to expect that, he could be quite and calm, unless Jack was here to hurt him.

Jack stepped into the corridor and looked down at Ianto through the grubby door. It never looked clean, you could actually polish the glass consistently, from one day to the next and it still, never, ever, looked clean.

Ianto started to sit up at his arrival, as he had every other time, because Ianto knew something was expected. So this time would not be any different. Jack tapped on the keypad to release the lock. Ianto was partway up by the time Jack entered, but only so far, so it was easy for Jack to gently push him down again.

"All right Ianto, you stay in bed."

Ianto did and he let Jack carefully put the covers back down. Jack tucked him in with a great deal of care. Ianto closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them again as he felt Jack shift. Jack didn't go away, instead Jack very carefully sat himself down on the cell floor. He propped his shoulder against the cell wall and settled down. Ianto stared at the wall, or tried to. Jack's leg was in his eye line and he couldn't ignore it. Jack watched him shift uncomfortably.

"How do you feel Ianto?"

"I'm fine, thank you."

Jack gave a sad, huffing laugh. Ianto moved his head and lank clumps of his hair flopped down over his face. Jack reached up and lifted a few back.

"I'm not interrogating you, Ianto, I'm just asking. Are you all right?"

"Yes, thank you, Sir."

At least, Jack thought, the yes was truly said. The rest was just automatic response. Jack reached out and smoothed back Ianto's hair again. They had tried to clean him off, but there still seemed to be a layer of grim around Ianto. He was better, Owen had checked him over before he had left for the night. In the end Owen had taken most of the dressings off, especially on Ianto's feet. Antiseptic spray had been the best thing he could use and then cotton socks.

The socks had been something that Gwen had bought, having been sent out with Owen's, sometimes bizarre, but in it's own way rather practical, list. Cotton would prevent sweating, allow the recovering skin to breath and with a slight anaesthetic in the spray Ianto's wouldn't feel anything too keenly.

"If you wanted," Jack said. "You haven't really had a chance to clean up."

He backed that up by moving more clumps of Ianto's greasy, matted hair, and he looked at the growth of stubble, which was almost becoming a beard. He must have shaved as some point over the last few months but not recently. Jack knew Ianto would hate that. He always liked to be clean, and tidy. Now he wasn't and there was no reason for Jack to keep him that way.

"The bathroom is clean enough down there, I know it's pretty basic, but there's shampoo and razors, I could help you clean up, if you like?"

Jack tried to leave it open, that Ianto could say, could agree, if he wanted to. But as Ianto looked up, as Jack spoke, he did nothing more than look utterly baffled. Jack looked down and smiled, he sat up and slowly started to pull down the blankets. As he did so, Ianto reacted, slowly getting up, onto all fours and then he sat back. Jack tucked the blankets away and stood up, he took Ianto's hand and drew him up onto his feet.

Naturally Ianto went with the movement. He was being told to do something, and he would do it. But as he tentatively stood on his feet – which didn't hurt at all really – he wavered a little as the world around him turned a little patchy. Jack gently steadied him, keeping Ianto upright.

"Okay, come on."

Jack led Ianto forward. He followed along as Jack put a protective arm around Ianto's waist, but not tightly. Ianto shuffled, feeling his feet, not entirely literally but moving properly for the first time since his rescue. Jack took his time, talking gently, encouraging Ianto along. Ianto kept his head down, but he moved, walking carefully as they made their way towards the bathroom.

He wasn't rushed, Jack took his time, slowly working out the shuffling pace that Ianto could manage. It was amazing that just 48 hours of Torchwood's, and mostly Owen's, careful care had done so much. Ianto was most certainly not out of the woods yet but he was better, but he was still so frail, malnourished and nervous. Jack started to wonder about the Ianto he had known, before all the trouble, how good an actor had he been.

"Here we are," Jack led Ianto into the bathroom. A large ornate, marble bath had stood in the room for years, it looked old, as did the pipes feeding it, but they ran well, with piping hot water. The bath lay to the right, on the left, through a door, was a shower room. Jack didn't think Ianto could manage a shower, a bath was better. At the back of the room was a bench, built into the wall. It was newer than the bath fittings. But like many areas of the hub. New things had been added, and the old things that worked, left to work.

Jack very carefully sat Ianto down on the bench.

"I'll run the bath, okay, you get undressed."

He went to do that, turning on the tap and setting the flow to a good temperature for Ianto. It was a little warmer than he would normally run it, but Ianto was suffering, a little extra heat wouldn't hurt him. Jack took his time, putting in a thick splodge of bubble bath. He had found it in Gwen's locker, a combination of lavender and jasmine, the scent of which surged into the air as Jack poured it into the flowing water. It said on the bottle it was soothing. He had raided everyone's lockers for what he needed, some he could provide himself. There was his own shaving equipment, but he needed other things, and he had them all ready.

For Ianto, he delayed the running of the bath, making it look like he was concentrating intently on the temperature as it filled. He waited for the bath to run three quarters full, so Ianto had time to pull off his clothes. He did it slowly and carefully, Jack watched out of the corner of his eye. First the sweatshirt, that was folded with shaking hands, then the tee-shirt, socks, tracksuit bottoms, then underwear. Ianto removed and folded them all neatly.

Jack grimaced as he looked. Ianto's bones were prominent against his skin, making it look even starker white. He didn't try to cover himself, he sat there, bruised, battered and exposed. Jack was glad he had added so many bubbles, you couldn't see the water for them. He shut off the taps and added the stones he had brought from the vault. They were harmless, but would keep the water to the temperature it was at now, until Jack let it flow out of the bath. Two of the stones were in Ianto's cell, and he had even put the two smallest into the inflatable mattress. They were designed to respond to the temperature of the closest living thing. When Ianto lay on the mattress the stones heated the air inside and made it more comfortable for him and adding to the warmth.

Slowly Jack stood up and went to him.

"Okay, you get in the bath and have a wash, and then we can get you shaved and wash your hair."

Ianto allowed himself to be lifted, but he didn't let Jack carry him, not entirely. Ianto put his feet down and walked. Jack was taking most of his weight, but he didn't ignore the fact that Ianto wanted to manage something himself, even though his sore feet stayed just brushing the ground. As he got into the bath Ianto gave a gasp of shock and pleasure. He sat down and Jack got the sponge and shower gel. He lathered up the sponge and reached out to rub Ianto's shoulder, Ianto cringed.

"Do you want to wash yourself?" Jack asked gently, not offended by the reaction. Ianto's hands reached for the sponge and he took it, rubbing it over his body with shaking, uncertain hands.

"You could probably just sit in there long enough and it will all come off," Jack said. Then he started to lather up the shaving brush he had, his own. He had brought his own shaving kit, to shave Ianto with. As he realised what Jack was doing, he lifted his chin, for the first time since he had been in the hub, Ianto did it voluntarily, which meant that at least he was aware of what was around him. Jack didn't doubt that. Jack lathered Ianto's face up with shaving cream, making sure he covered it carefully.

Then he reached for his straight razor and looked at the blade before he moved Ianto's chin up. Ianto stopped washing himself and stayed very still as Jack carefully started to shave him. He ran the sharp blade down Ianto's left cheek, pulling off hair and foam and exposing the pale skin underneath.

Ianto blinked but didn't move as Jack carried on, all his concentration was on what he was doing. He gave it the concentration that he did his own shaves. But somehow, as he moved Ianto's chin to slide the blade down his neck on the far side, he felt something else. Because however tense Ianto felt, whatever emotion he still, unconsciously projected, he remained pliable. Jack moved him around willingly.

"Once we've done this Ianto, we'll get your hair washed. I've got Tosh's conditioner too, I'm sure she won't mind if we borrow it. Here, come on."

He dipped the razor into the bathwater, to wash off the foam. Ianto did nothing, he didn't look down, he waited as Jack lifted the razor again and stroked gently over Ianto's face and neck.

"That's got to feel better," Jack said, five minutes later as he gently sponged Ianto's face with a warm, damp cloth. "I've got some moisturiser for you, just a little," Jack said, smearing it on. Ianto didn't stop him, Jack could now feel Ianto's smooth skin, which was stretched tightly over his cheekbones, and as soon as he could Ianto lowered his head again, now that that job was done.

Jack moved away for a moment. He could sense that Ianto wasn't comfortable around him, or any of them for that matter. As much as he obeyed, he was still frightened. So Jack moved away, tidying up his shaving stuff and as he glanced into the very smeary mirror to look at Ianto as he went back to washing himself. He looked far better having been shaved, he was starting to look more like Ianto. Jack took a breath and rummaged for the shampoo and conditioner he had found. He never really paid much attention to his own hair, he didn't wash it with anything special, it always looked fine on it's own. Ianto's didn't and Jack had raided the girl's lockers for help.

Ianto washed as Jack continued to move around the room. He put the small table that for some reason lay in the bathroom at the head of the bath, Jack could sit on it as he untangled Ianto's hair. He got the feeling that would be a far longer job than shaving him. As he gathered everything up he went to sit behind Ianto. Ianto's very intense washing stopped again. Jack put things down on the floor and teased Ianto's hair back, then encouraged him to put his head back.

"Let's see if we can't sort your hair out. Shuffle down a bit, let's dunk it in the water."

Ianto let him, his eyes closed, looking almost peaceful, but there was still a shred of strain on his face. Jack eased him back up to a sitting position.

"Okay, that should start us off, I have a jug if I need any more," Jack said, as he started to try and run his fingers through Ianto's hopelessly matted hair. If his pulling on the tangles hurt Ianto gave no sign, he just sat there in the bath. Jack could still smell the scent of Toshiko's bubble bath, and the citrus scent coming from the soap he had given Ianto, that he had found abandoned there. It was better than taking in the smell of grime from Ianto's hair. As Jack pulled at the roots, starting to ease apart some of the tangles he checked for lice. It wouldn't have surprised him. If needs be he could kill them but that was a secondary concern.

Instead he focussed his mind, taking clumps of Ianto's hair and gently pulling them apart, then using Toshiko's comb to clear them completely.

"Let's use some shampoo shall we?" Jack said. He added that, then more water and then continued to trawl though the foamy mess that was Ianto's hair. Jack worked slowly and consistently. He took a chunk and worked in the foam and then used his fingers and the comb to free the tangles. It was an almost arduous process, and it would have been easier if he had just simply taken the razor to Ianto's hair and cut the mess off. But that seemed more than a little obscene to Jack. Ianto had so much taken away from him Jack didn't want to take anything else.

So he patiently sat there, his fingers starting to cramp painfully on occasion as he worked. Ianto sat still, letting him do what he was doing. Jack knew the water would stay nice and warm for him and any queries regarding how Ianto felt, or if anything was hurting, was met with a murmured response that seemed to indicate everything was all right. Jack worked, and worked, his focus was tightly on what he was doing, and eventually, with his hands aching painfully, he freed all of Ianto's tangles and smoothed though some conditioner before washing his hair clear.

As Jack very carefully dried Ianto off, Ianto mumbled something. It was said in such a low tone that Jack thought for a moment that he misheard, or rather, was so shocked by what Ianto said, he blurted out the exclamation.

"What?"

Ianto repeated what he had said a little louder. Jack hadn't misheard him and again he felt the body blow about what Ianto's words meant. The words, now spoken, tore through Jack, and they couldn't be undone. Ianto had said it, and Jack heard the words, he suddenly felt them, and there was only one thing he could think.


	8. Chapter 8

**Since you asked so nicely, the next chapter is here - which isn't so nice... sorry...**

Gwen went down into the vaults. Jack wasn't on the upper levels, so there was only one other place she could look for him. She went down the stairs and turned to find Jack in the vaults, leaning against the door and staring down at Ianto intently.

"Jack?" she asked. "Is he all right?"

He certainly looked better, Gwen thought as she looked at his clean shaven face and the spread of hair on the pillow, which was no longer matted and filthy.

"Fine," Jack said distractedly. Gwen turned to look at him. He hadn't moved, shoulder still against the door, arms crossed over his chest and his eyes fixed on Ianto with an intense gaze. A second later he snapped out of it, as he realised Gwen was watching him, watch Ianto. Jack lifted himself off the door and relaxing his stance slightly took her arm, steering her away from the cell, and Ianto. She felt a flicker of irritation that apparently although Jack himself could stand there staring at Ianto, like a subject in an experiment, she couldn't do the same. She gave a quick glance back, but Ianto hadn't stirred, he was asleep and unaware of what was happening.

"Are you sure he's all right?"

"Yes," Jack said, in a peculiar tone. "He'll sleep for a little longer, I thought it best to give him some of the sleeping pills Owen suggested."

Gwen nodded, they stepped out through the vault door into the outer corridor. Jack steered them towards the stairs, the cool air felt heavy for a moment before Jack said.

"You said you did courses while you were with the police," Jack said.

"A few, some weren't very interesting, most were fairly pointless. Dealing with the public, hostage negotiation – not exactly used that one often," Gwen observed mildly. Jack snorted with laughter.

"Never say never, it seems something that you might find far more useful now, rather than with the police."

"True," Gwen said. She looked at Jack, wondering what the hell he was getting at.

"Was there like, any sort of counselling courses?" Jack asked. Gwen frowned.

"Oh? Well, you mean victim support I suppose?" she asked, turning her head to look at the vault they had just left. Logically that could be the only reason Jack was asking.

"Yeah, something like that. Did you?"

"A little, but they all seemed a little… impractical. I mean, if anyone said to me some of the things they suggest you say to people, I think I'd end up punching someone. It was all a little patronising."

They paused by the steep flight of stairs that led up to the main area of the base. They paused and turned to look at each other.

"So, not really then?" Jack asked. Gwen shook her head.

"Most of what I worked out was on the beat, just dealing with it. There were victims there all the time and what I was told to say was nothing that any of them probably wanted to hear. It was far better to make the tea and not say anything. Who really wants to listen to someone in a uniform spout platitudes?"

Jack shrugged at that.

"But, it's not like I don't know anything, I dealt with a few victims, you know assaults, dealing with wives, mothers and sort of bereavement stuff…"

"What about rape victims?" Jack asked suddenly, blurting out what he needed to ask, rather more bluntly than he planned to do. Gwen for a moment didn't quite register the full impact of what he said as she started to think of an answer. Then it clicked in her mind. Her eyes widened in shock, and she gaped. Automatically she turned to look the direction of the vault, where Ianto was now sleeping. But she was too far away to see him.

"Oh God, he…" she turned to look back at Jack. "Ianto was raped? But who…?"

She trailed off vaguely, as Jack nodded, her mind still clearly trying to understand what was being said.

"How did you…? You weren't questioning him again were you?"

Jack shook his head, he stepped away from her and sat down, slumped was a more accurate description, on the steep stairs. He sighed heavily.

"No, of course not, I just thought… I took him for a bath, helped him shave and washed his hair. I was trying to be nice… you know, I can do that. He's looked a state for the last two days, and I know other things were more important but…" Jack sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.

"It was just meant to be a nice gesture, I didn't ask him anything, other than to make sure the bath water wasn't making his wounds hurt. He seemed a little nervous but no worse than he had been before. I didn't even think that something like that had happened to him."

"So he just told you?" Gwen asked, a frown flickered across her face. Jack flinched, looking even more wretched.

"Kind of, right at the end, I was just helping him dry off when he just said it. So quietly I didn't register it and oh God!" Jack snapped, running his hands over his face and then dropping his elbows onto his knees cupped his chin in his hands. "It was supposed to be comforting, the whole bath thing, and at the very end of it he ends up pointing out that it was probably a torturous experience. Heaven knows what was going through his head while he was naked for two hours, around me…. I was hardly subtle when it came to flirting with him… before he… well before we found out about Lisa anyway. And he had to suffer me being near him."

Gwen sighed. She stepped sideways and sat down on the step next to Jack. He had to shuffle across to make room for her but between them they just about fitted. Jack hunched forward, still cupping his chin and waiting for the accusation to come. Gwen said nothing for a moment, then she asked.

"Do you know who? ...or how many?"

"Haven't got that far," Jack confessed. "As soon as he said that I just got him dressed and settled him down, and put him to sleep."

Gwen gave a slight snort at the phrasing, and then pulled herself together. "Poor Ianto."

That seemed a slight understatement to Jack, but he didn't comment on it. Instead he said.

"Have you ever dealt with anything like that?"

"A little, but just behind the scenes, there's a specialist team and a rape councillor but if we get someone in, we'll have to retcon them, then if we need them back again we'll have to start all over again," Gwen said, sounding like she didn't fancy having to work through that practicality. "What about you? Have you ever been in that sort of situation?"

Jack gave her an irritated look and then went back to looking at the vault door, which was where Gwen was looking, and completely missed the stare Jack gave her.

"Not really, I had to use my wiles the odd time, to kind of get things going my way but… no, I wouldn't say anyone's ever raped me."

"But you've had to make yourself consent, when in actual fact you didn't want to?" Gwen asked.

"Trust me, Gwen. It's a whole different way of thinking. You are the only one that knows about dealing with the whole trauma deal."

"Not necessarily, Jack. Let's face it, he told you."

"Only because I think I put it right into his mind. He might have thought that's what I was trying to do."

"So? He didn't have to say anything. In fact, unless you asked him something directly, why would he?" Gwen shifted on the seat turning to look at Jack with a more direct gaze. "He's only told you anything when you've asked him about it."

"But he's volunteered some information then."

"Yeah, when he knows you're asking about what's happened. He's traumatized, not stupid. He'll know exactly what you want to know, more than likely Ianto is aware of what questions you'll ask. This time he told you, without you asking anything, without you demanding an answer."

"So?"

"Like you said, you were trying to be nice, maybe he knew that, maybe… maybe he just needed to tell someone and he actually trusted you enough to tell you."

"I hardly think that's likely, trust in me is most certainly not Ianto's thing."

"Not before perhaps, but, he's bound to think a little differently now. Okay so perhaps you can argue that he's not entirely rational but if he needed to tell someone, there are only so many people he can pick from. You're the most logical."

"How the hell do you work that out?" Jack asked.

"You're the person who has been talking to him and… logically I would have thought you were the most experienced to deal with anything along the lines of sex. And pretending that you are agreeing to it, doesn't entirely make it consensual."

"That's doesn't explain why he'd tell me. I would have thought I was the last person he'd want to tell."

"Maybe you're the only person he can tell," Gwen argued back. She was good at that, Jack noticed. One way or another, Gwen always managed to have the last word. And she made extra certain of that now by standing up and turning, ready to head back upstairs.

"Jack, you're probably the only one that has a handle on how he might have felt, having someone taking advantage of you, of being stronger than you. Ianto knows that, doesn't he, Jack?" Gwen concluded before trotting up the stairs away from him. Jack sighed, and thought about that before getting up and heading back in the vault to think on how to proceed from there.


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry about the delay uploading this chapter, I'd completely forgotten to do it...**

As Gwen finished helping Ianto with breakfast Jack came back down. He had disappeared before Ianto had woken up, Owen had checked him and Gwen had brought food. The routine carried on as it had before. Ianto felt glad about that, it was comforting knowing what was coming, and even more so when he knew it wasn't going to hurt. Gwen gave Jack a long look before she left and Jack took her place in the cell, looking at Ianto's lowered head.

Jack crouched down in front of him. "Do you feel all right today, Ianto?"

"Yes, I'm fine Sir."

"Good. Ianto, I want to know…" Jack started, and did pause for a second as Ianto lifted his head up, registering that Jack was about to ask him something, and also, clearly noticing the absence of the lie detector.

"Ianto, from what you said about the kidnapping, why didn't you try to escape, when they first took you?"

There was a very pregnant pause. Ianto put his head down, the now clean and shiny strands of hair fell across his face. Jack felt an overwhelming urge to stroke them back, but he kept control of himself and waited.

"Because I thought it was you."

"What, you thought I was one of the men who…?"

"No, I thought you had sent them."

Jack's mind rolled back over what Ianto had said to him, in the previous conversations, and one thing stood out.

"They phoned 'the Boss', you thought that was me?"

Ianto nodded.

"Do you really think I would send people like that?" Jack asked, feeling a little shocked by Ianto's thought processes. Then again, no one could expect him to be entirely rational.

"I knew you'd be looking for me," Ianto said in a low tone, his voice dropping almost to a whisper as he added. "Because of what I did…"

Tensions were still running high in the hub. A week after they had destroyed Lisa. Jack hadn't given Ianto any time for grief. He had him back at work early the next morning. No one had really talked about what happened, but Jack wasn't fool enough to think that it would settle overnight. But Ianto could surely, no longer be fooled into thinking that his girlfriend had survived beyond Canary Wharf.

Ianto had been quiet, just doing his job, hardly speaking and not looking anyone in the eye. Everyone else was displaying their own levels of anger, Jack felt angry himself, but he understood how and why Ianto allowed himself to be fooled. Working for Torchwood was not an easy job. Jack had seen many a slip up before, and it often resulted in someone dying. At least this time it wasn't anyone he cared about, and the only person he felt really angry with was himself. For being so stupidly fooled by Ianto, who had allowed himself to be flirted with, and flirted back, when all the time, what Ianto was appeared to be nothing more than a façade.

Jack sat down and reached for the cup of coffee that was sitting on his desk. He didn't even bother to wonder where it had come from. It was such a considerate habit of Ianto's and Jack had more than enough paperwork to get through, so he sipped at the well made drink, and peered at the reports.

Half an hour or so later, Jack decided he was more exhausted than he thought. He had sent everyone else home, it had been a long few days, and he felt like he needed the peace, without the simmering feelings swirling around in the air. The words that he was writing blurred several times and he blinked to try and clear his vision. His hand was starting to cramp a little as well, and his feet felt oddly cold. Maybe another drink was in order. Jack turned, picked up the cup and tried to stand in what should have been one smooth gesture.

As he tried to stand up his legs cramped painfully and the cup slipped out of his hand to clank against the edge of the desk before tumbling over, spraying the remains of the coffee as the cup flipped over before smashing onto the floor.

"Woah!" Jack exclaimed as he fell back into the chair, pitching himself backwards so he could land safely. He blinked again as the world swirled around him, and the pain in his limbs eased as the stress removed. Jack very carefully flexed his hands, making sure he could move his fingers, and then he wiggled his toes. He suddenly realised, they seemed to be going numb.

"Problem, Sir?" Ianto asked appearing in the doorway. Jack turned his head, making his neck and then back start to throb with pain. He tried not to let it show.

"No, I'm fine, Ianto," Jack said, realising how thick his tongue felt in his mouth. "Just got up a little too quickly."

Ianto raised his eyebrows, Jack winced inwardly as he realised how that sounded, and he watched as Ianto peered at the broken mug, and splashes of coffee that lay on the floor.

"It's probably the drug taking effect," the young man observed casually, before producing, from behind his back, a dustpan and brush, as if he had expected the mess. With his usual calm efficiency Ianto crouched down to scoop up the shards of enamel. Jack's eyes widened and he tried to get up but his limbs were even less co-ordinated and as Ianto straightened up, he put Jack back down with a light shove to his shoulder. Jack landed with an inelegant thump, banging his head hard on the back of the chair. He almost lurched forward from the impact but Ianto carefully steadied him. Jack settled down again and looked up at him.

"Ianto, what have you done?" Jack demanded. Ianto smiled at him, very congenially, putting the dustpan on Jack's desk.

"It's quite an interesting one Sir, it affects the muscles and nervous system, in a very specific fashion. First the limbs, slowly, then it works internally, shutting down the organs. Heart and lungs last, Owen thinks, but that could be a toss up either way really." Ianto perched on the edge of the desk, close to him and looked at Jack intently. "One thing it doesn't touch though is the brain, at least not the conscious part of it, until your heart gives out, or you can't breath anymore, you'll feel all of it. I don't know if it's painful… is it?"

Jack glared at him, and he didn't answer. Ianto watched him curiously. Then he turned slightly and very carefully picked out one of the larger shards of enamel. Jack shifted in the chair, but the drug was taking too strong of a hold, he couldn't move, or at least not enough to have any effect against Ianto. He tensed as Ianto took his arm, turning it over to expose the inside of his wrist and forearm. Jack grunted through gritted teeth as Ianto ran the sharp enamel across the veins that ran just under his skin. Ianto cut hard but not too deep, but blood started to well from the wound. Jack felt his breathing started to deepen and his looked up at Ianto, who regarded the wound for a moment before putting Jack's hand back down on the arm of the chair, and he placed the shard of enamel on Jack's blotter. Jack could hear the drip, so loud in the silence, as his blood ran onto the floor, but the wound wouldn't kill him.

"Still have some feeling then," Ianto observed calmly. "Owen was going to test it on one of the lab rats, just to see what happened. I thought I'd save him the time."

Jack clamped his jaw to keep from saying anything. Instead he watched as Ianto produced a syringe.

"There is an antidote though," Ianto said. "Or at least it should be. It's effects vary, depending on how long the drug has been in your system, but as long as your heart and lungs are still working, I suppose you could make a recovery. If, of course, I bother to give it to you."

"What the hell are you doing this for?" Jack snarled, unable to keep silent any longer. Jack knew his own body, he knew it was starting to shut down. It had happened before, he had suffered slow deaths, he knew the sort of thing to expect and feel. Ianto didn't know that part, Jack didn't have to worry that much, unless Ianto decided to do something with his dead body.

"I thought on what I said, about having a chance to watch you suffer and die, and then I thought, when am I likely to get that chance, unless of course I make it myself. It wasn't guaranteed that I could make it happen, but first time lucky," Ianto said brightly. He straightened up again, pacing away from Jack. He stepped towards the stand where Jack's coat hung and ran his fingers down the sleeve, gently caressing the material. Jack snarled, annoyed and rather disgusted by that intimate touch to his prized possession.

"You are a bit of a creature of habit, Jack," Ianto observed, his eyes and hand still on the coat. "I figured the coffee was my best bet."

"And you really think this is the answer?" Jack forced himself to say, his body cramping painfully. He tried to make it work, tried to force some adrenaline to work in his favour. He felt the fingers of his right hand curl and started to concentrate on working the muscles of his forearm. But it wasn't going to be quick enough and he knew it. Ianto smirked as he watched what Jack was doing, he also knew it wasn't enough.

"Isn't it?" Ianto asked. He still had the syringe, Jack thought, there was still a hope that Ianto wouldn't take this all the way.

"So what's the plan? Kill me, then what?"

"Wait for the others, let them have a look at you first," Ianto said. Jack controlled the sigh of relief, if Ianto meant to leave him, then he could get back from this, hopefully before they got here, if not then he'd have back up when he did.

"And then what?" Jack asked. "What do you expect us to do with you?"

Ianto's face flickered, in such a way that Jack felt a gleam of hope that everything wasn't entirely lost. But then his mask fell back into place.

"I think it's only fitting to end it the way you ended Lisa. Lock you in, trap you down here like rats. I know the place well, very well, every little bolt hole," Ianto said. Jack eyed him carefully, he could resign himself to dying, Ianto telling him everything, really told him everything. Ianto was going to let him die, but he didn't know how complicated that was. Gwen knew, Owen now suspected, as probably did Toshiko. Lisa had tried to kill him with that electrical bolt, and they had all seen it. All of them, except Ianto, and that was Jack's only advantage.

He gritted his teeth to control the grunt of pain as Ianto took his damaged arm, holding his hand but also pressing his fingers into the wound on his arm. It made Jack focus, but Jack wanted to get the death over with and quickly. The sooner he died, the sooner he came back.

"I'll stay with you to the end, Jack," Ianto smiled, his eyes not entirely in focus, and gleaming with an edge of insanity.

I'll be waiting, Jack thought to himself, as he felt the first frantic shudders of his heart.

Jack took a breath, lurching up and tensing as he felt hands on him. He didn't react to them immediately, he couldn't. Poison did that to him, the effects still sat for the first few seconds as his body came to rights. If it was Ianto, Jack would try and play limp for a while but then he'd have to fight.

"Jack! Jack!"

Gwen's voice. He slumped back, he could allow his body a few more seconds.

"Jack, it's all right, just… calm down."

Confusion, Jack registered in his mind. She didn't know what had happened. Where was Ianto then? Jack thought. He wouldn't want to go far, he'd want to see her reaction. Actually he would have already seen it, he was dead when she got here, but then again, she wouldn't give a normal reaction to someone who was dead. Gwen knew him better, better than anyone.

He blinked and looked at her and grimaced as he smelt something he rather wished he hadn't.

"Oh, my chair is going to need to be cleaned, but I don't think I can use my usual guy."

"Jack?" Gwen asked, grimacing a little herself. "I brought you some stuff, clothes mainly, and I'll clean it… but what happened?"

"Have you seen Ianto?"

"On my way in, he went out saying he had run out of coffee and was going for some more, although he said he had set some up with what was left over. He looked a little better than usual, Jack, what's going on?"

"Long story, short version first though," Jack groaned, standing up, and then he snapped to attention. "You haven't drunk any have you?"

"No, I came in to ask you and found you… dead… how come Ianto…?"

"Because Ianto killed me, if he's just left then he thinks I'm still dead. Are the others here yet?"

"No."

"Right, call them now, and tell them to run down here like they are on fire. And tell Tosh that on the way in to instigate protocol 489 from the mainframe in the tourist office."

"Jack?"

"Ianto is going to expect you to bring them running, so let him watch it, tell them the truth if you have to, I'm gonna have the fastest shower in history and get dressed. Then we'll be ready for him, I don't doubt for one second that he'll come down personally to finish this off. These…" Jack added, frantically writing instructions, "… are the codes to prevent a lockdown on the lift, if that's all we have then at least we can get out."

"He's planning to lock us in here?" Gwen asked in shock.

"Like we did Lisa, now go!" Jack shouted.

They were ready. They had all done as they needed and three of them stood as reception committee for Ianto. He walked in, with a bag of ground coffee and smiled at them.

"Everything all right?" he asked pleasantly.

"Fine," a voice announced from behind him.

"Okay," Jack now said. "I see why you might have thought I was behind it, but if I'd found you, I'd have come personally. I do not use goons, I never have and never will. Not my style."

"I know, I just though and then… it wasn't you," Ianto said, sounding almost disappointed. Jack almost reached out for him, and then let his hand drop. Ianto had cringed back, and Jack knew why he was so frightened of contact. For months all he could expect was pain. That habit wasn't going to go with a few days care and careful talks.

"So how did you get away Ianto? After so long…"

"I waited, when I knew it wasn't you and… they asked me about Torchwood I knew I had to."

"You could have just betrayed us, your plan was to anyway."

Ianto's eyes lifted slightly, but didn't go too high. He looked down again, pulling back a little on the bed. Jack let him, he wasn't about to push too hard. After a pause Ianto said, very quietly.

"That was different."


	10. Chapter 10

Jack sat down. He stopped crouching as his legs were starting to hurt. It reminded him painfully of the poison that Ianto had given him, and it also occurred to him how readily Ianto had taken food, and drinks and water. Ianto was entirely willing to accept what they wanted to do to him, however they saw fit to deal with him. He had asked for them, to help him. Did he really expect that they would hurt him?

"How was it different Ianto?" Jack asked. He really shouldn't, he didn't want to upset him. As angry as he had been at the time, he didn't want Ianto to die, or even to think that was his plan, Jack would never have killed him.

"I didn't want to leave," Ianto said.

Ianto had whirled around at the sound of Jack's voice. He stumbled back and his eyes widened as he looked at him, immaculately dressed in clean clothes, and his coat. For some reason, after the way Ianto had touched it, Jack wanted the defence of his clothes, mainly his coat, he wanted to keep it from Ianto. It was his, he didn't want Ianto to violate it. Jack was going to get it dry cleaned as soon as he could.

Jack had carefully watched Ianto's reaction to his sudden appearance. His eyes widened in shock as he saw Jack, stood there looking exactly as he had the day before. Jack didn't doubt that Ianto had checked him thoroughly, to make sure he was dead. Ianto would have been entirely meticulous about that. Jack was simply grateful it was Gwen who had found him, she was the one who understood his quirk best, she had witnessed it before.

For a long moment, all Ianto could do was stare at him in shock. The packet of coffee dropped from his hand and he backed up, slamming into the nearby railings, making the chains rattle violently. Jack could see the fear in Ianto's face, but there also appeared to be a mild flash of irritation. Jack didn't even have the decency to stay dead.

"But, you were…"

"Dead," Jack said casually. He slid his hands into his pockets and stepped towards Ianto. He backed up the short flight of steps onto the main level of the hub. Ianto sent a frantic glance in the direction of the others. They all watched impassively. Some less than others, Owen could look Ianto in the eye, Gwen had trouble with that but she tried anyway, and Toshiko was a lost cause. Then Ianto looked back at Jack.

"But…" Ianto backed up as Jack stepped forward. Jack paused as Ianto stumbled against the coffee table.

"I can't die," Jack announced, deciding to put Ianto out of his misery. Or just make it worse, judging by how pale he went.

"You were dead," Ianto said, flatly.

"Fine, if you want to be technical about it, I do die, I just don't stay that way. It didn't seem wise to mention it while you were actually killing me, you know, just in case you decided to take further precautions."

Ianto's eyes were slowly widening in shock. His eyes darted around as if looking for a way out. There wasn't one, they had all exits covered, and Ianto was penned in. He looked at the others, but his eyes always returned to Jack, who regarded him coldly. Some things Jack could easily forgive. What happened with Lisa, he could let go, the others found it harder but Jack could accept that as well. But the sheer maliciousness in Ianto's actions was something that Jack had not expected, and on some levels it frightened him. While he had been forced to sit there, waiting to die, he had felt incredibly vulnerable. And it wasn't something Jack liked.

The tense situation was diverted momentarily as the systems reacted. Toshiko went to the nearest computer, thankful of something to do.

"The lockdown is trying to instigate," she announced.

"It won't work by the way," Jack informed Ianto pleasantly. He backed up a little further, falling back and landing on the sofa. He looked down at the floor, eyes still wide with shock, but unable to look at them any further. His hands tensed on the edge of the sofa, gripping the soft material tightly.

"Jack," Toshiko said slowly. "It tried to lock down after he arrived."

"Well, logically," Owen snarled. Jack turned and frowned at her. Toshiko looked up, and glanced at Ianto, who sat slumped on the sofa, head down, unmoving. She returned her gaze to Jack.

"No, I mean he set it running after he went in, the doors were supposed to lock behind him."

"He was going to lock himself in with us?" Owen asked, and then snorted. "He must know what we'd fucking to do him… me anyway."

Jack looked at Ianto but he hadn't reacted to that.

"Jack, we've got a rift alert as well," Toshiko added. She looked around at Owen and Gwen for help. It couldn't have happened at a more inconvenient time. However, Jack didn't turn a hair, he looked up at them and said.

"Let's go then," he said, rather insistently. The three of them looked at each other, and then back at him. "Go on," he added forcefully. They still couldn't seem to believe it but eventually, after a long, heavy pause that seemed to hang in the air they slowly started to move. Jack took several steps towards Ianto, leaning down to murmur in his ear.

"I will deal with you later."

The tone of voice made Ianto raised his head. Jack saw the tears glimmering in his eyes and the confusion at the turn of events. What none of them knew was that he had set up the rift alert. Jack got the feeling that leaving them all together was not a very good idea, and he wanted to give all of them some breathing space. Ianto was going to have to have his on his own. Even Jack felt a little unnerved being around him, seeing how Ianto had behaved while he watched him die. Jack most certainly wanted some space to get his head around it.

Later on, he wondered if he had let that shred of fear get the better of his judgement.

He had straightened up, looking Ianto directly in the eye, seeing that mass of emotion in the younger man, and Jack had walked away. He just followed the others. Even at the time, he knew he could have locked Ianto in, taken him down to a cell to contain him. But in the end he hadn't, he had just left him there.

And none of them were entirely surprised to find him gone when they came back.

"If you didn't want to leave, why did you?"

Ianto didn't answer. His shoulders shifted uncomfortably, in what could have almost been a shrug, if the gesture had been a little more assertive.

"I didn't know what to do, or think. Nobody wanted me there."

"You'd planned to trap them in the hub, and you'd killed me. Do you have any need to wonder why they were all so hostile?"

"And you," Ianto said. Jack raised his eyebrows. There was no doubt that he was the deciding factor in the whole affair. Maybe he had handled it all wrong, Jack wasn't sure. He didn't know if there was a correct way to handle it.

"You had just killed me, Ianto, I had every right to be angry at you."

"You hated me," Ianto said. Jack raised his eyebrows.

"No, I said I was angry at you. I never said I hated you."

"Same thing," Ianto argued, his voice low, and he cringed slightly as if he realised that he was contradicting Jack and knew that he shouldn't.

"No, it's not," Jack argued back. Ianto said nothing further so Jack was clearly getting the last word on that one.

"So if you didn't want to leave, why did you? Aside from the shocking fact that I wasn't dead, what reason did you have to run? If I was going to kill you in retaliation I would have done it then and there. You knew that much, didn't you?"

There was a slight movement of Ianto's head that appeared to be a nod.

"No one wanted me," Ianto said flatly. After a pause he added. "Not even Lisa. No one could even be bothered to kill me."

"So you thought killing me would entice the others to kill you. Especially since you were planning to trap them in the hub with you," Jack said. Ianto didn't answer, he kept his head down and shrank back a little. It didn't make any sense to Jack, but then again, how the hell could anyone in Ianto's shoes behave rationally. Jack had been given a long time to analyse it, while Ianto was gone and as he faded from the forefront of Jack's mind Jack became a little more rational about what he was seeing.

"Did you suspect anything about me not dying?"

Ianto slowly shook his head. "I hate you, I want to kill you," Ianto said, very tentatively but Jack could only assume it was also completely honest. And it was also, very significantly, in the present tense.

"Still?"

"Sometimes," Ianto said.

"What about the other times?" Jack asked. There was a long pause. Ianto's head shifted, almost as if he dared to look up but then thought better of it. Jack waited a minute or so, and his patience paid off. Ianto's voice was low, breaking occasionally.

"You left me there, all on my own. I'm always on my own, and now there's nothing, nothing in my head where all there used to be was Lisa…" Ianto stopped, his hand was running up and down the wall, scratching his palm hard against the stone. Jack winced as he saw the smears on the wall. Reaching out he took Ianto's wrist and pulled his hand around to look at the grazes on his hand. The scabs had opened up from the wounds he had caused, after crawling for so long, trying to reach Jack. Someone he still hated, because he was the only thing Ianto had left. Jack watched the violent hitch of Ianto's chest, and knew it was not something he should really push. He had enough information to know that Ianto wasn't emotionally stable, he wasn't rational and he was vulnerable.

Jack decided to change the subject. They still needed to know as much information as possible.

"Ianto, how did you get away? Did you escape, or do you think they let you go?"

He changed the last bit, just as he spoke. Jack didn't want to infer that Ianto might have simply been kicked out of the door. But it couldn't be ignored as a possibility.

"I waited, I couldn't get away, not straight away. But I got a chance, when they took me out for exercise."

The last word was spoken with extreme nervousness, Jack frowned.

"What do you mean exercise?"

Ianto sniffed. "They took me for walks, on the gravel path behind the building."

Jack's eyes dropped down to Ianto's feet, half tucked up in the blankets and covered in black cotton socks. There was probably no need to ask if that was before or after the damage to his feet. The damage was only part of the torture, if Ianto was then made to walk on them, it would have been excruciating.

"They made you walk on your injured feet?" There was a nod from Ianto. Jack felt the anger rise in him again. "How long for?"

"Hours sometimes. I'd pass out now and again, especially on hot days. They would just wait for me to wake up again."

Jack felt his jaw harden and he let the anger burn in his eyes. Ianto wouldn't look up and there would be no danger of him seeing the expression and misinterpreting it as directed at him.

"So, how did you get away?"

"There used to be three guards, the first few times. But it was just one that day. They stopped... they didn't think I would get away."

"Had they tried to make you run before?"

"I think so," Ianto said, then his head shook, just a fraction. "I'm not sure."

"It doesn't matter, but when you escaped wasn't one of those times?"

"No, I don't think so." Ianto's voice went a little vague, as if he was contemplating that idea. Jack didn't want him doing that, he didn't want Ianto's random speculations. What he wanted was the actual facts. Jack himself, could speculate later.

"But you decided to try and escape."

Ianto nodded. "My feet didn't hurt, not too much. They'd injected me earlier and asked me things, I can't remember what…"

"Okay," Jack said, making sure the conversation stayed on topic. "So how did you escape the guard?"

"The path goes by some fields, and there was some trees, I fell and just grabbed a big rock. When he tried to pull me up, I hit him in the face and he fell, and I hit him some more…" Ianto's breath hitched, his voice wavering and Jack raised his eyebrows. Wondering how much more, possibly enough to kill if Ianto felt strong enough in that moment, and it opened the possibility that perhaps, just a lapse in security, and a fraction of luck, had given Ianto what he needed.

"So, you ran for the trees, the best cover."

Ianto nodded. "I didn't know where it went, I just thought, if I could hide, or… get somewhere… and call you that…"

"Yeah, okay, so how did you get to where we found you? Did you walk, or crawl, the whole way." It didn't sound a likely scenario to Jack, that would have been too close to where they were keeping him, and as far as Owen had been able to tell, Ianto had been exposed to the elements for a while.

"No, I got through and there was a road, and a lay-by, a truck was parked there. I saw someone, the driver, talking on the phone. Part of the side was open, I don't think he knew so I just climbed in, and hid."

"And the truck drove off with you?" Jack asked, guessing the scenario. And it was just luck, no planning on Ianto's part, just dumb luck. Which meant that perhaps whoever it was had no idea Ianto was loose, until it was too late.

"I don't remember that, I must have fallen asleep."

Lost consciousness more like, Jack thought to himself, debating the strain Ianto must have been under to instigate that escape.

"When I woke up, the truck was moving. I just lay there. I couldn't do anything until it stopped. When it did I crawled out again and hid in a pile of boxes. Then I think I went to sleep again, when I woke up I tried to find…" Ianto paused. His voice had gone a little confused again. He clearly thought about it for a moment and then said. "I found the phone, and called you, and you came."

Jack raised his eyebrows at the way Ianto said the last two words, so filled with relief and awe that it really happened.

"Course I did," Jack said. "What do you remember about the truck?"

"It was big."

Jack rolled his eyes at that. It was a truck, presumably it would be. Ianto carried on talking.

"Like an articulated lorry, and it was red, the sides were red. There wasn't anything much in it, just a stack of pallets, I hid behind them. And the back number plate was yellow, I think it was British, I couldn't read it though. There might have been words on the truck but I…"

Ianto stopped talking, stilling down and there was a ripple of tension as he felt Jack's hand on his shoulder. As he felt Ianto's shoulder hunch Jack pulled his hand away, just a little, so he was still reaching out, but not physically in contact with Ianto.

"That's good, Ianto," Jack reassured him. It gave them enough to work on. Despite his shattered state Ianto still retained his ability to absorb detail. Jack retracted his hand and slowly stood up. Ianto seemed to hunch down even further, tensing ready for what was to come. "And it's enough for now."

Ianto immediately got the hint and slowly started to move, so he could lie down. The conversation was over, and the routine that he knew, that he had been going through since his arrival back at Torchwood meant that he was to get some rest. Whether he felt tired or not, no one had yet to ask him when they told him to rest. But it relaxed him as he lay down, and he felt Jack lean over to tuck him in. Ianto compliantly closed his eyes and heard, rather than saw Jack leaving the cell, and the gentle whisper as the door closed behind him.

"Tosh!" Jack yelled the second he got back up to the hub. She jumped. "That industrial estate where we found Ianto must have CCTV covering it?"

"I guess so."

"Track everything that came in the day Ianto called. You're looking for a large red truck, British plates I think, but follow everything that's red, see where it goes, and what happens when it pulls up."

"Why?" Gwen asked. Toshiko just turned to start doing what Jack asked.

"Because that's how Ianto got to that industrial estate, if we find the truck…"

"Then I can track it back through the street cameras, follow which route it took…." Toshiko picked up the thread.

"And maybe we can find where Ianto started the journey," Jack concluded.

"What if the CCTV is black and white, how are we going to look for red?" Owen asked, sauntering up from the autopsy room. Toshiko glared at him in irritation.

"I can set the computer to analyse the shades of grey, to find what would be red in colour. I can narrow it down at least, and then perhaps find something else to confirm it's the truck we are looking for."

"Like what?"

"If it's a good enough angle, Ianto presumably clambering out of it," Toshiko said, her eyes didn't move from the screen as she started to pull up what she needed.

"I'll help," Gwen offered.

"But they're going to know that he'll come to us, surely?" Owen said.

"Not necessarily. The state he was in, there's no way they can guarantee he would reach us. They could be looking, and tracking hospitals, police reports and things like that as well," Jack said. "We've been working as normal, and looking like we are business as usual, heading to and from the hub. So maybe they're watching and don't realise we're ahead of them."

"And if we can get ahead of them, then it's to our advantage," Gwen said. Jack nodded.

"Exactly."

Which, ironically, was the very moment the lights went out.


	11. Chapter 11

Ianto had his eyes open as the lights dimmed. He blinked, not entirely aware that something was happening. But as he slowly heard the sounds of beeping as the computer alerts went off he lifted his head. Looking around, he realised the lights hadn't dimmed, but the main lights were off, and the emergency lights had come on. Ianto blinked again, confused by that, and slightly disconcerted. That was what happened when Lisa needed the power, and it had diverted to her conversion unit. The one that he thought was saving her, rather than changing her, equipped with what she needed to convert other people as well.

He rose up a little, feeling a little flutter in his heart, but Ianto wondered if Jack would come down. His head lifted a little as he heard a clang. Again, there was a small feeling of disturbance at the back of his mind. Ianto knew the Torchwood building well, the details hadn't faded. They had been resting at the back of his mind, slowly returning as he settled, safely contained in a Torchwood cell. So he realised it was the clang of the door at the far end, and he heard light but swift footsteps into the corridor.

The mild disturbance shot to hysterical horror as two pairs of shoes walked into his eye line and he recognised them immediately. A pair of army boots, and a set of biker boots. Ianto lurched back on the bed as he saw them, his mind flashed with horror, the edges of his vision darkening at the panic surged through him. His sight honed down to the two pairs of boots, which he knew so well and were always accompanied by pain and fear.

"Get that lock," a voice snapped sharply. Ianto knew it, one that had shouted at him, asked him questions, over and over again, until his mind was muddled. They came from someone who had beaten him, hurt him and given him such a cocktail of drugs that sometimes he had struggled to even think of his own name.

The feeling of terror overcame him as Ianto shuttled back, and he watched the door to the cell start to open. He fell off the mattress, rolling slightly as he hit the ground, jerking his body painfully, and he scuttled into the corner, whimpering in horror. He pressed his face into the wall, not wanting to see them, to perhaps make himself believe that he was just imagining things. He curled himself up as tight as he could, his back to the room, the cold stone of the wall brushing against his face as he tried to hide away, to avoid the horror that was happening around him.

"No!" he shrieked the word as he felt their hands on him. Ianto tensed, and flinched. But he didn't struggle. That instinct had been taken away from him. He knew he couldn't stop them. One of them roughly grabbed his arms, yanking them behind his back, while the other pulled a cloth bag over his head. Ianto sobbed as he felt something cinch tightly around his wrists, pinning them behind his back, and the bag tightened on his throat, pressing hard into his windpipe. The cloth brushed against his face, and he struggled to take a breath, his heart pounded in his ears, as he realised what was happening.

A feeling of nausea rose from the pit of his stomach, the taste of porridge and fruit from his sensible breakfast hit the back of his throat. He gagged for a moment, as he thought he was going to throw up. He felt his body constrict tightly, his stomach churning and his throat tightening until he wasn't sure if he was physically able to be sick.

They were going to take him back. He had given them the codes to Torchwood. Giving him the drugs and muddling his mind to the point he wasn't sure what he said. But he had clearly told them, and he shouldn't have. He had confessed that to Jack.

"Come on, let's go," one voice announced. Ianto just about heard through the cloth bag and his own frantic breathing. He felt them grab an arm each, gripping on tightly and hauling him up and out of the corner, dragging him to the door. Ianto was too horrified to put up any kind of fight, they got him up and moving with brutal efficiency. He remembered well enough the punishment that resistance brought.

He didn't feel the pain in his feet, or anywhere on his battered body as they forced him to move. Although he couldn't see where they were going, he knew by instinct he was being dragged to the door where they had broken in. They were taking him out, swiftly, in a race against time before they could be stopped.

Jack would come, Ianto thought. But he might be angry, his mind added. It's your fault they broke in here, you told them everything they needed to know, and they knew you would come here. Didn't they. Ianto's mind ran with a riot of thoughts, most of them running together until they were almost incomprehensible. Would Jack punish him by letting them take him away? Ianto asked himself. Jack wouldn't let that happen, Ianto's mind argued back.

He gave a yelp as for a brief moment he was airborne. There was nothing but a sensation of floating and then his body exploded with another riot of painful sensations as he crashed down, slamming hard against a cold, damp surface. The air rushed out of his lungs and he retched as he tried to breath, and couldn't, his body unable to function coherently.

"No! No!" Ianto screamed, despite his lack of breath, as he felt himself hauled roughly off the floor, the two men grabbed him again and pulled him up, getting him onto his feet and making him move. He stumbled along, each man still tightly holding an arm, and one of them had clamped a hand on the back of his neck, forcing his head down a little as they marched him along. Cold air rushed against them, the wind buffeted against Ianto and he realised he was in the open somewhere. He tried to think which way they had come out, but he knew he was out of the building. They had taken him away. Ianto sagged down, only to feel a wrenching pain in both shoulders as they forced him to stay up.

"None of that, pretty boy!" one of them snarled at him. Then he felt himself lifted again, and he yelped as his shins connected hard with something. He was pushed forward landing face down on a surface that shuddered and vibrated, as something close by growled. A pair of hands latched onto his sweatshirt and dragged him forward across the smooth floor and then something slammed, rocking the world around him. Ianto heard the sound of the engine nearby rev loudly and then with a screech of tyres the van surged forward, sending him sliding into the corner as he desperately tried to get up.

All the while his mind, completely panicked now, only had one thought. One word.

Jack.

Jack looked around as the hub dimmed and the security alert kicked in. The sirens started to wail and the computer screens flashed with a warning, 'code zero incursion'.

"What?" Toshiko's hands hovered over the keys for a moment as the programmed she was working on disappeared, completely lost as the protocols kicked in. A second later she started tapping and reared back.

"Someone's in the lower levels, they've breached a security wall that leads up from… well from… I think an old access area."

"I thought you checked them all!" Owen yelled, loading a gun as he ran up from the autopsy room.

"I did, I changed them… I swear Jack, I did! Jack, they're almost on vault level one!"

"Well, we know what they bloody came for!" Gwen snapped, checking her own gun and running to head down that direction. Toshiko looked at Jack.

"I'm sorry!"

"Don't be, I know you changed it. I changed it back."

Gwen paused and swirled around, her black hair flying and then resettling on her shoulders. Her eyes widened in shock.

"What? You…"

"You bastard," Owen said. "You're going to let them take him back!"

"Jack! Gwen! They're at the cell, and they're overriding the locks. I don't know what with."

"We're about to find out." Jack pulled his own gun, his jaw setting. He eyed Gwen and Owen. "They're in an old access tunnel, with only one way out, and it's very easily blocked. As soon as they try to get out, there is a stinger to take out the tyres and the entrance will be blocked by you two. Go out via the main door and go around the side to head them off, use the SUV. The tunnel starts just beyond the Millennium Centre, running from the alleyway onto the main road. Go!" he yelled at Gwen and Owen. They both stared at him in shock before running for the door. Jack rounded on Toshiko.

"The protocols will automatically activate, make sure they stay that way and monitor from here. If they do manage to get out, we'll need you here to make sure they stay in sight. We can not lose them!"

Jack spun on his heel without waiting for an answer and dashed down to the vaults, gun at the ready. There was a chance that he could cut them off before they even got down to the access tunnel. It was an old part of the Torchwood facility. There was nothing useful down there, not any more. Jack hadn't been down there for years, but that didn't mean to say he had forgotten any of it. It was now a little known and never used way in and out. It was, Jack also knew, the way Ianto had managed to get Lisa, and all her equipment into the hub. And there was no level of revenge to Jack using it now. Like Ianto, he had seen the practical use in it, only his use made it a trap, not an unnoticeable back door.

As he ran to the vault level he heard a scream echo around the stone walls. No doubt Ianto was in a severe state of panic. Jack was under no illusions about that, and it wasn't fair to use Ianto as he was. Jack was painfully aware of Ianto's vulnerable state, and although he had survived so far, this shock could completely destroy him. Jack reached the steep stairs down, and he didn't falter, he jumped. As he dropped, his hand instinctively grabbed the nearby railing, taking a light hold as he went down, and as he landed, both feet slamming down onto the stone floor, he used the grip to keep himself upright. Jack didn't pause, he carried on running, taking the route down through the vault. He didn't even glance into Ianto's cell, he wasn't there, so there was no point even looking. He just focussed on the open door that led deeper into the vaults and kept running.

He was almost there as he heard the roaring of an engine as the van revved. On hearing that he put on a surge of speed, adrenaline rushing his system as he realised just how close he was, either to catching them, or perhaps losing them.

"Gwen, Owen! Are you there yet?" Jack bellowed through the comm. "Tosh?"

"The stinger is in place, they won't even know it's there but they might suspect something. No sign of the SUV yet!"

Jack growled and took another jump as he saw the circular archway of the exit. The metal gate was hanging off it's hinges. It wasn't part of the defence mechanism. Motion sensors lay further inside, and the door beyond them automatically deadlocked if they were disturbed. It made for a hellish waste of time when rats and weevils found the darkened hole but Toshiko had updated the system with recognition software, which Jack had tweaked for the purposes of this deception.

He knew they would come. That much had to be pretty obvious, even if they had been unable to track Ianto. If anyone found him, they would eventually trace him to Torchwood, or Torchwood would find it in the system. This time Jack wanted all options covered, so while he looked, he expected them to come knocking. And now, he was not about to lose them.

He sailed over the short flight of concrete steps that Ianto had been cruelly thrown down and landed in a crouch. The van was screeching away, an old white van with no number plates. But to avoid further detection, they would have to stop somewhere to put plates on, which would add a delay if the plan went wrong now. Jack spun and ran after them, but he wasn't going to catch the van that way.

The low tunnel suddenly echoed with explosions as the tyres were torn up by the stinger, which had been previously lowered, concealed in the stone, until the alerts had gone off. The van gave a screech, sparks flying as the metal of the tyres scraped slightly on one side. The van skidded, swerving violently, but the driver managed to steady it, attempting to keep the speed up. He was really trying, but then he hit a section of the tunnel that was cobbled, where the old stables had been. Close to the exit. Dangerously close.

"Get here now, you two!" Jack bellowed, hearing his voice echo around the stone tunnel. He kept running, the van had slowed just a little more. His right arm almost lifted a few times, the temptation to just randomly shoot was overwhelming but he reined in the urge, because it would be nothing more than a waste. They tyres were already ruined, there was nothing for him to hit until he saw a clear target.

The van continued to lurch forward, getting closer and closer to the exit. Jack was gaining, but not fast enough, his heart tensed, and then eased as he saw the flash of a bright set of headlights. The SUV took the corner with a screech of tyres and hurtled into the entrance. It shot forward at an almost kamikaze pace. Jack guessed Owen was driving. The black vehicle went directly towards the van. Automatically, and probably disoriented since Owen had the full beams on, the van tried to swerve. The SUV followed it, coming metres close to the front of the van. So much so that Jack thought a collision was imminent. However, at the last moment Owen yanked the wheel and brought the SUV to a skidding halt sideways to the van. He was so close that to try and get past them would mean the van would have to reverse to swing round.

No one got a chance, Gwen was out of the SUV, gun raised, shouting orders at the driver of the van, and heading towards the driver's side as she did so. Owen had to spill out of the SUV the same way, clambering over the seats. He ran the other direction, blocking any attempt by whoever was in the cab to escape the other side. All Jack heard were their shouts echoing around as he ran directly to the back of the van.

He could ask Toshiko, who was probably watching the CCTV, how many suspects they had. But he didn't bother, he didn't care how many people were in the back of the vehicle. He was going to get to the one that he knew was in there. And Jack would take on anyone who stopped him from getting to him.

In Jack's mind there was only one thought in his head, narrowing down to one word.

Ianto.


	12. Chapter 12

Jack dashed to the back doors and grabbed the handle yanking it hard. It refused to give, whoever was in the back had locked it. They knew they were trapped. Jack snarled in rage, now he had a target he used his gun, aiming carefully he fired at the lock. Just one, neat shot and it exploded the lock open. He wrenched on the door, ready for the attack from inside.

The fact that Jack wasn't sure how many people, or who, was in the back only gave them a momentary advantage. As soon as he could see in, Jack assessed the scene. One man, and Ianto. The advantage didn't last long. As he spotted the man Jack reached out and grabbed the material of the leather jacket. One glance down identified him, Biker Boots. One of Ianto's torturers and part-time interrogator.

Jack lashed out at the flash of light on metal. The knife went spinning from the man's hands before he could even blink. For a moment, Jack wasn't sure what had galvanized his rather foolhardy attack but it soon snapped into focus. He dragged the man out and slammed the butt of his gun against the man's head. Biker Boots jerked and sagged slightly, Jack followed up with a brutal blow to his nose, feeling it break under the impact. The man's head snapped back and he slumped down further. Jack gave him another neat tap on the back of the head, just behind his right ear, just to make sure, and then dropped the man in a boneless heap on the floor. He wouldn't be getting up any time soon.

The sounds coming from the back of the van made Jack bring his head up. Ianto's shrieks were echoing around the van, and floating out into the shadowed space of the tunnel. Jack's name wasn't just swirling around Ianto's head. Somewhere along the way Ianto had found his voice and he was screaming Jack's name with frantic high-pitched panic.

Jack had been able to hear it before he had pulled the van doors open. Without even registering it consciously it was what had moved him so quickly. Jumping into the van he went to Ianto, who was pressed against the wooden side by near-side wheel arch.

"Ianto!"

Jack's voice didn't penetrate Ianto's mind and he screamed again as he felt Jack's touch, cringing away from him in panic. He looked Ianto up and down, making the quick assessment to get the bag off his head first. Jack discovered, as he struggled to find the tie, it was cinched tightly around his neck, almost restricting his airway. Ianto was desperately gasping for breath, his frantic breaths pulling the cloth tighter across his face. He screamed Jack's name again as Jack swiftly tried to locate and pull at the knot holding the bag tight.

Ianto struggling against him didn't help but there was nothing Jack could do about that, except find a way to tell Ianto that he was safe. Jack finally got a handle on the knot and yanked it loose, getting his fingers under the material and pulling it. Ianto gave a harder, deeper breath and screamed again as Jack yanked the bag off his head. Ianto tried to pull away. Wriggling backwards to cringe in the corner.

Reaching out Jack grabbed Ianto's chin, cupping it in both hands, trying not to hurt him but making sure Ianto couldn't get away. Ianto squirmed as Jack held him. His wrists were still restrained, and at some point later in the kidnapping – when he was secured in the van - his ankles had been tied as well. Jack thought it prudent to get Ianto calm before he started letting him move any further. Ianto gave another cry and gasped for breath. At that moment, with that small pause Jack took action.

He leant forward and pressed his lips down on Ianto's. He kissed him gently, not applying too much pressure, but enough to stifle the oncoming scream. Ianto made a tight sound that came from the back of his throat but the scream never happened. Jack could feel the tension in him as Ianto tried to comprehend the sudden change in events. Jack tilted his head and pressed a little harder, letting his tongue flicker out to brush against Ianto's lips. Ianto gave another whimper, and his body stilled, staying tense but the fight eased out of him.

Jack pulled back, and continued keeping a firm grip on Ianto's chin. He lurched a little as Jack took away the contact, and his breath continued to come in short, whimpering gasps.

"Ianto," Jack spoke his name in a low tone, assured by the slight shifting, that Ianto could now hear him. "Ianto, look at me."

Ianto had obeyed the direct command once before and he did so again. His eyes lifted, meeting Jack's. They were wide and wary, mingled with a little confusion. As they focussed on Jack's face, close to his own, Ianto blinked, his eyes rolled to try and take in his surroundings. His lower lip trembled. The split on his lip had opened up again, at some point during the proceedings and a bead of blood glistened in the low light. Jack, unable to help himself, leant forward.

His lips met Ianto's again; Jack carefully aimed for Ianto's lower lip, where he was bleeding. Ianto gave another whimper, softer in tone and with a slightly different emphasis. Jack let the tip of his tongue flicker out again and he caught the metallic taste of blood. He licked up what was there, held himself for a moment and pulled back again. Ianto's eyes were firmly rolled down, fixed on Jack's blue shirt. He squirmed again, fighting the restraints that held him, but Jack wasn't letting him go until he was sure Ianto wouldn't panic and hurt himself.

"Ianto," Jack used the same low tone, and Ianto's eyes lifted, but only a fraction. He didn't meet Jack's eyes again, and slowly he looked down to stare intently at Jack's shirt again. "It's all right, Ianto. You're safe, no one's going to hurt you."

Jack felt Ianto tense, and he yelped as there was a scuffling sound from beyond the back of the van. A second later there was a dull thud of something slamming into flesh.

"Don't you dare!" Owen snarled, following up with another kick. Ianto whimpered, trying to slide down the side of the van in an attempt to hide, but he also tried to turn his head to see what was going on. Jack took a firmer grip, encouraging Ianto to sit back up and also turning his head so he couldn't look at what was happening beyond the confines of the small space. Although his eyes still rolled to try and look. Jack shifted his grip and ran his thumb over Ianto's right cheek, feeling the smooth skin, which was damp with tears. He caressed Ianto's far too prominent cheekbone.

"Ianto, look at me."

Ianto did, for a few seconds longer this time. He met Jack's eyes again, staring up at him in shock. Jack smiled.

"It's all right Ianto, you're safe. I'm here, I'm right here."

Ianto's eyes rolled down again. Jack didn't bother to try and encourage him to keep looking up. His eyes were fixed on his chest again, staring at the dark blue shirt. He settled down, relaxing a little, but he flinched again as there was further scuffling sounds from outside. Jack tilted his head slightly to address the figure outside.

"Owen, could you and Gwen escort our new guests to the vaults. Put them on the lower level, I don't want them anywhere near Ianto."

"Whatever," Owen snapped, his voice still filled with fury. "Get up!" he snapped at Biker Boots. Jack felt Ianto move, clearly thinking the command was for him. Jack moved a little to his right, to shield Ianto from any glimpse he might get of his tormentors, and to hint that he was to stay down.

"Jack, what about…" Gwen's voice, a little more modulated, but tightly controlled, started to ask.

"I'll bring Ianto back. Just go."

He didn't look round, but he heard them start to force the two men back along the corridor, their voices echoed as they forced the two men along, who answered back with threats. Jack ignored them and the sounds faded away until he was left with Ianto, who was still unhappy and frightened.

When he was sure they were far enough away he moved to Ianto's side, putting an arm around him to hold the shaking man tightly to him. Ianto gave another little breathless whimper as Jack pulled a knife out of his pocket, flicking the blade up.

"All right," Jack soothed. "Let's just get you free."

He slid the blade through the plastic tie around Ianto's ankles cutting it with a flick of his wrist. Then Jack sat him forward and he wrapped his arms around Ianto, swapping the knife from one hand to the other. His supporting arm lay across Ianto's chest as he slid the knife through the tie around his wrists. Ianto didn't struggle away as soon as he was free, he made no move at all. Jack just kept him supported while he slid the blade back and pocketed the knife again. Then both his arms went around Ianto in a light but protective hold.

"Okay, let's get you out of the van, and back to the hub."

Ianto didn't speak but Jack felt the subtle movement as Ianto nodded his head. Jack gave a mental sigh of relief as he felt that. He hadn't lost Ianto completely.

"Come on, slowly, now," Jack said, as he helped Ianto slide to the back doors and he sat for a moment with his legs hanging out, while Jack clambered out and stood up. Ianto's head didn't rise, but moved in a way that indicated to Jack that he was assessing the area. It was now still and silent, the others had gone to do as Jack asked. They wouldn't pass them on their way back in. Jack could avoid the lower levels below. The access tunnel was in fact a road that used to exist in the area, for some reason, long ago, it had been built over. He didn't know why, he wasn't there at the time it happened, and nor did he care. Thankfully it ran directly up to the first level of the vault.

"Come on," he said, and reaching out he put his arms around Ianto, using a supporting arm at his back to help him up, and the other around his chest to keep him from falling forward as he stood up. Ianto made it upright and steadied himself, Jack encouraged Ianto to lean against him, and he also lifted Ianto's arm and put it around his shoulders. Ianto got the hint, it was the way Jack had helped him move around previously. As they started to move, Jack felt Ianto's hand tighten on the material of his shirt and he walked forward with an intense amount of care.

Jack didn't let Ianto dictate the pace. There was no point even trying that. Ianto wouldn't make a decision, he would just follow the speed Jack took. For the last few months he had become very used to doing what other people wanted of him. So Jack didn't expect anything different now. He went slowly, frustratingly slowly, letting Ianto shuffle along the tunnel towards the steps and the archway that led back into Torchwood. Ianto didn't look where they were going, as usual his head was down, watching his feet as he put one in front of the other. The easiest way of dealing with it, Jack supposed. Moving from one small thing to the next. The last few months were filled with that, going from one small incident to another, the whole thing merging together to make a larger and painful tapestry.

As they walked Jack murmured soothing, reassuring things, just letting himself ramble so Ianto could hear his voice and take in the fact that Jack wasn't angry with him, or going to hurt him. Whether Ianto was really listening or not Jack didn't know, but it made himself feel better as the guilt clamped around him.

They were only a few steps away from the flight of stairs as Ianto wavered. He sagged a little, the exertion a little too much for him. Jack tensed his grip to support him and Ianto flinched, trying to stay upright. He was supposed to be moving, and he couldn't stop now, or he would be punished. At least, that was how he saw it. That was what he was used to.

Jack held him steady but he was swiftly realising that Ianto wouldn't be able to make it the whole way himself. He ran a quick debate, wondering if he could call on one of the others, and then didn't bother. Instead, as he kept the arm around Ianto's back, supporting him carefully he shifted and moving his other arm down swept Ianto off his feet and lifted him up into his arms.

It could have been difficult to carry him, Ianto was as tall as he was, but he was so dangerously light that Jack had no trouble settling Ianto in his arms. Ianto's own arm stayed slung over Jack's shoulders, and his hand stayed tensed on the material of his shirt.

"All right, Ianto, come on, let's get you back," Jack murmured as he carefully started up the stairs. They were wide enough that getting up them with Ianto was no issue. Jack stumbled slightly, just in shock, as he reached the flat surface of the corridor, when Ianto suddenly tucked his head down on Jack's shoulder. The material of his shirt was tugged a little harder as Ianto tightened the grip even further, not through tension, or fear of Jack dropping him, but because he pressed himself against Jack, wanting to hold on tight. He turned his face so it was pressed into Jack's shoulder, hiding like a frightened child. Jack carried on walking.

"It's safe Ianto, you're perfectly safe."

Jack thought he might have had to put Ianto down, to get him up the steep set of stairs at the end of the corridor but something about that gesture, as Ianto clung to him, strengthened Jack. He could manage it, he was strong enough and going up while balancing Ianto's weight was entirely possible. In fact, Jack did it so swiftly he surprised himself, reaching the upper level and the cell where Ianto had been based within minutes.

The door was open still and Jack looked around. It was only the scattering of blankets on the floor that showed there had been any signs of disturbance, when Ianto had risen out of bed quickly. Jack entered and very carefully knelt down, going onto one knee, to put Ianto down on the bed, sitting him on the thickly covered mattress. He slid his arm out from under Ianto's legs and as he moved a little he felt Ianto cling on harder, his other hand latched onto the front of Jack's shirt and he kept his face pressed into Jack's shoulder. Jack wrapped Ianto up in his arms again, letting him cling.

"You're back in the cell, you're fine, it's perfectly safe. They can't hurt you."

His location probably wasn't very reassuring, Jack thought, considering it was where they had taken him from. Ianto sniffed a couple of times, and it took Jack a moment to realise that Ianto was murmuring at him.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry…"

Jack reached up to run a hand through Ianto's hair, stroking it back off his sweaty forehead and tucking it behind his ear. Jack grimaced and looked at his hand as he felt several strands wind through his fingers and cling on. He brushed them off, and didn't repeat the soothing gesture, instead he settled for resting his hand against the side of Ianto's head.

"It's all right," Jack assured him. "It's not your fault."

"I told them, I told them how to get in," Ianto's voice rose, tension turning it into a high-pitched whine. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

Jack then got the meaning behind the words. Owen had pointed it out before, that Ianto would think Jack would kill him for giving out such information. It wasn't unheard of. Ianto had worked for Torchwood One, and they did deal with things in the most medieval of fashions sometimes. Now Ianto was expecting the same of Jack, who was angry at him anyway. Or at least that was what Ianto assumed.

What was going on in Jack's mind, couldn't have been further from that idea. The more he dealt with Ianto, the more he got the feeling that half of these problems stemmed from when Ianto was still with them. Struggling to keep Lisa alive, and trying to live under the delusion that she was still his girlfriend. Jack had pulled the rug out from under him emotionally and gave him nothing to ease the fall. If Jack had handled the situation differently then there was a good chance none of this would have happened. The only thing he could do now was deal with the fall out.

He held Ianto, or rather, he let Ianto cling to him, gently shushing him down as he tried to apologise. Ianto continued to mutter 'I'm sorry' at regular intervals.

"I know," Jack eventually said during another pause. "I know, Ianto, it's all right, I'm not angry with you."

Ianto clung to him harder, keeping his face pressed into Jack's chest and hanging onto him. Jack rocked him, running his hand down from Ianto's head over his cheek and to his neck. Ianto whimpered, tensing a little but Jack ran his fingers along Ianto's neck, searching out his pulse and pressing down to check it. He found it running a little erratically but it didn't feel too serious, Ianto's heavy, panting breaths were starting to calm down. He tightened his hold on Jack, and lifting his head a little Ianto whispered, a little hoarsely.

"It's all my fault."

"What is?" Jack asked, feeling the pulse speed up a little.

"I told them how to get in. It's my fault. I thought they'd take me back, that you might let them."

That didn't sting Jack half as much as he thought it might. "It's not your fault, Ianto. And I'm not about to let anyone take you anywhere. You are staying right here, and no one is going to hurt you."

Ianto's head shifted, easing upwards as he heard the determination in Jack's voice. As he answered Ianto spoke with a tone that was something close to awe. "Really?"

Jack chuckled slightly, making Ianto flinch. But he ran his thumb over Ianto's jaw line in a gentle caress.

"Really," Jack confirmed. He moved a little, turning slightly, taking his hand away from Ianto to reach for something. Ianto, feeling Jack pull away as he turned, pulled back.

"Don't leave me, please, don't leave."

Jack turned back, "I'm not going anywhere." He drew Ianto along the bed a little so he could reach what he wanted. He just about caught hold of the top lip of the bottle of water and curled his fingers around it. Lifting it up he turned back to Ianto, using the palm of his hand over the top of the bottle to steady the straw.

"Here, I don't want you dehydrating."

Ianto took the straw in his mouth. Jack assessed the bottle. It was about three quarters full. Ianto drank the water down, it was slightly warm but Jack didn't think Ianto was likely to complain about that. He watched as Ianto swallowed the water, knowing that Ianto wouldn't stop drinking until he was told to. Jack waited for him to drink half of what was in the bottle and then with a gentle pull he got Ianto to release the straw. Jack put the bottle back down and put his arm back around Ianto. The clinging had become a lot less frantic.

"There you go," Jack said. "Are you okay?"

He felt Ianto's head move up and down against his chest and he murmured. "Yes, sir."

"Let's get you back into bed," Jack said taking his time to disengage himself from Ianto. He was obviously calmer as he didn't try to cling so hard, but Jack added another reassurance. "And I'm going to stay with you, and those two are not coming back. Now come on, before you get cold."

At the order, Ianto shuffled on the bed and let himself be laid down on the mattress, it dipped a little as he settled down comfortably and Jack fussed about tucking the blankets back up, and retrieving the ones that had scattered onto the floor, to put them over Ianto. Ianto's eyes moved to watch him, but he still didn't look Jack in the face. But he was, Jack noted, making more obvious moves, rather than the previous, subtle, fear filled ones.

Once he had finished tucking Ianto in, Jack smoothed his hair back off his face, frowning in mild concern as several more strands of Ianto's hair fell away easily. Rather than do any more damage he started stroking Ianto's cheek. There was a mild twitch to the corner of Ianto's eye at both touches but that was all the reaction he gave. Jack settled himself down next to the mattress, sitting cross-legged, close to Ianto's head and he continued gently stroking Ianto's face.

"I'm going to stay right here with you," Jack assured Ianto.

He could see him shaking slightly but Jack watched the reaction calm, and now and again a gentle press to his neck assured Jack that Ianto's heart-rate was steadying. As did his breathing, and as the minutes passed Jack watched as Ianto's body slowly relaxed and his eyes flickered closed as he drifted off to sleep.


	13. Chapter 13

Jack stayed with Ianto for a while after he went to sleep. He did want to make sure that Ianto was completely settled and it had nothing to do with avoiding the confrontation that would happen when he went upstairs. Leaving it only meant that the rest of them would have time to whirl themselves up into an even greater frenzy of anger. What he wanted to do was make sure Ianto didn't register him leaving, so he could be completely assured that Jack wouldn't leave him.

He caressed Ianto's face again, and then looked carefully at his hair. The hair loss hadn't been evident when he had washed it, but then it was so matted that Jack had expected some of it to come loose. Now he realised, that it was coming out, not exactly in clumps but strands were falling away easily from his scalp. Jack frowned in concern as he looked carefully as Ianto's scalp and made a note to ask Owen about possible causes, and solutions.

But to do that, he needed Owen calm, so satisfied that Ianto was sleeping deeply, Jack left him and went upstairs.

It was an absolute storm when he reached the hub. Gwen and Owen were on him in an instant. Jack stood there silently under the tirade of accusations and questions as they both shouted, demanding to know what the hell he thought he had been doing. Owen emphasizing the dangerousness of Ianto's condition and Gwen about the risk Jack had taken, nearly losing Ianto in the process. Owen ended up, rounding off and repeating himself, by bellowing.

"What the hell did you think you were doing?"

It succinctly summed up the five minute tirade that they had both run at him, yelling simultaneously. They now glared at him, waiting for an answer, both so furious that whatever he said was unlikely to be good enough. He wasn't entirely sure he could justify it to himself.

"Like you said Owen, we knew they might come knocking. It seemed the logical thing to do was to let them in, and set a trap."

"You could have locked them down on the lower level!" Owen roared. "What was the good of letting them get to Ianto? Other than to terrify the life out of him."

"Ianto will be fine," Jack said, assuredly and almost dismissively. He folded his arms across his chest in the ultimate defensive gesture. "We knew there was a risk that they could get in, and yes, I could have trapped them anywhere, and left any of the doors open, but that was the one that have more than one possible route around the facility."

"So?" Owen snapped, fury drifted off him in waves, Jack could almost smell it like static in the air.

"I wanted to know what they would go for," Jack reasoned. Gwen frowned.

"What do you mean Jack?"

"They could have tried to get up to the hub, or taken out the computers at the lower levels and attempted to gain control of the systems, they didn't, they went straight to Ianto, and tried to extract him."

"The whole purpose of letting them in wasn't to catch them?"

Jack glanced at Owen. "That as well, but the main point is, that they came for Ianto, nothing else."

"What are you getting at Jack?" Gwen asked.

"They tracked him down and kidnapped him, they may have asked a lot about this place, I presume layout as well as codes and security, probably minor details as well, if they wanted just to get in here, that would be enough."

"You mean, they want something more out of him, and need him back, before they deal with us," Toshiko said. Jack turned to her. She was sat at her computer, trying to track the CCTV from the industrial estate, distracting herself rather than getting involved in the angry melee that was happening nearby. But she started to understand what Jack was getting at.

"Exactly, this might be about us, but it's only in part."

"And taking Ianto, would bring us running," Gwen concluded. "They might want us out of here, chasing him…. We came running when he called."

"That wasn't something I'd thought of," Jack said. That didn't help the mood as Owen scowled, glaring at him.

"And why the hell didn't you tell us?"

"Because you'd make sure it didn't happen, and we needed it to."

Gwen looked horrified at that, she looked to Owen. Owen gave a look of mock surprise. "Oh yeah, would we stop you terrorizing someone as damaged as Ianto. Yeah!" He turned to Jack and bellowed.

"Well, there you go then," Jack snapped. He watched as Owen's shoulders tensed, and his hands balled into fists. Owen, however, kept them very carefully down at his sides, and Jack knew that he was exerting every ounce of willpower not to lash out at him.

"Look, it's fine, Ianto is fine and we caught two of them."

"Only just, Jack," Gwen argued. "What would have happened if we had been a few seconds later? Of if they had just killed him?"

"They wouldn't have taken him out of the building to do that," Jack snapped back.

"And what if they had just walked in and shot him in the head," Owen asked flatly. Jack went cold at that, it was something that had crossed his mind. But the plan hadn't involved that scenario.

"They have been torturing him for information for seven months, and he escaped. If they had kept him alive for that long, then they still need something from him."

Owen's nostrils flared, there was a long tense pause, and then Owen, using a voice that was flat and very to the point, said.

"So you thought you'd put someone who is severely weak, actually also suffering mild withdrawl from drugs and terrified of these people, through your own little plan, without telling us, risking his life, and then think one quick snog will make it all better."

"What?" Gwen asked, snapping her head round to look at Owen again. Then she looked back to Jack. Owen glared at Jack while he addressed her.

"In the back of the van, he was kissing Ianto."

"What?" Gwen looked from one man to the other, her face screwed up in shock. "But he's…" In the end she focussed on Jack. "Jack?"

"He was hysterical, I needed to calm him down."

"Most of the time slapping someone works," Owen said. Jack glared at him.

"Like that would have been any good for him! And I've kissed him before, it was just… he didn't expect it, and it… he calmed down."

"Jack, that was before he was…" Gwen yelled and stopped. Jack glared at her, and she looked around, first to Owen and then to Toshiko. Her eyes flickered with guilt and then she looked back to Jack. "It's different now."

"What?" Owen snapped. "What the hell is going on?"

"I know Gwen," Jack said, ignoring Owen's intervention. "But I doubt anyone kissed him."

"Oh fucking hell!" Owen roared, as he did his own tennis match impression, looking from one person to the other. They were all doing it, looking at each other, trying to find and answer. "Are you seriously telling me that..." he paused and hefted in a breath. "Well, that explains the damage. I supposed I had better add a test for HIV in as well. Was it either of those two?"

"No," Jack said. Owen stepped forwards, hands still tightly clenched as his sides. Jack lifted his chin but he didn't back off.

"I don't believe you. You have to stop hiding things from us, Jack. We need to know everything that has happened to him. These people could come for any of us, and you are letting us merrily walk out of this building on a regular basis. This is no time to start playing your little game of secrets."

"I'm not and there is just no need for anyone to know that he was…."

"Raped?" As Jack faltered on the word Owen picked it up, using the word as a question but Jack's flinch was all he needed to know. "Don't you fucking dare shut us out Jack, because this is not about you, it's about Ianto, and what has been done to him, and which could, in all honesty have been done to any of us if we landed in a vulnerable enough position. He is not to be used for your own ends, and I will not let you hurt him again!"

"Oh, so says the man who was rather vocal about what he would like to do to him, and didn't exactly hide his feelings!" Jack snapped.

"We're not talking about me Jack, and let's face it, I didn't hide what I thought. Maybe that was better, I didn't leave him terrified of what I might do to him. And we were all angry, we had every bloody right to be! Ianto, I think, understood that! We handled him wrong, we are all starting to understand that but that gives you no right to use him as bait! You cannot start pushing him to his limit, he's not strong enough! He's not capable of anything and he's my patient, and you are not going to go near him, because when he wakes up I am taking him somewhere safe because there is no way I am letting him near you!" Owen bellowed. "And I'd love to see you trying to justify keeping him here!"

"Because he's not going to remember," Toshiko said. Her voice made Jack lift his head to look at her, rather than glare down at Owen. Owen and Gwen snapped round to look at her.

"What?" Owen snapped. Toshiko didn't look at him, she was looking at her computer screens intently.

"He won't remember," she repeated, then turned to look at Jack. "You retconned him."

"Yes!" Jack snapped.

"What?" Owen roared. He stormed to Toshiko's work station and looked at the playback.

"When I took him back to the cell, I gave him retcon," Jack said.

"And he let that happen?" Owen asked, slamming the keyboard to try and bring up the screens. Toshiko pressed two keys and shut two monitors down.

"But that means he won't remember you…" she started saying and then stopped and then turned off more screens. "Jack?"

Jack's nostrils flared. "No, Ianto will not remember. He won't remember them coming in, taking him and us stopping them. Ianto will wake up, thinking he had just slept through peacefully. Like I said, he will be fine. Now we have two new guests to deal with, so I suggest for the next few hours we deal with that. I want that van looked at, any clues there make sure we get them, and the codes they used to get in… I want to know what level they are."

With that Jack spun on his heel and walked into his office, and slammed the door behind him. Gwen started forward but Toshiko was too quick.

"I'll talk to him," she said and went past Gwen to open the door. She turned the handle, pushed it open far enough and then shut it behind her. Jack spun around and glared, then relaxed, then tensed and glared a little bit more. Toshiko took a breath.

"If we woke him now, would the retcon still work?"

Jack frowned. "I don't know, I've never tried that. Why would we?"

But he knew why. He knew why Toshiko was asking.

"I watched Jack. You asked me to watch the CCTV, I'm sorry, but I saw it."

"How much?"

"All of it," she said. "Jack, you got somewhere, he stopped being frightened, and… all those other things. He needed you, you saw that, he told you. You can't let that go."

"And would it be better for him knowing that two of the people who had done this to him were in the building?"

Toshiko's face drew in, just a little. "But Jack, surely you're more important."

Jack smiled, very sadly. He reached out and took a light grip of Toshiko's wrist. When she didn't resist he took her hand.

"No, I think he's better unaware of it. At least I know that I can help him, that he wants to trust me. We've got that far."

"We already knew it Jack, he called you, when he needed help, he called you."

"Maybe so, but I didn't know it," Jack said. "Now we need to find out where the rest of them are, we need to know what is going on. You carry on looking back over that footage, we can still get ahead of them."

"If we can get the information out of the two we have, then it might be quicker" Toshiko said. Jack grimaced.

"I know. But that's easier said than done. But bullies can be easy to crack, and I think one of them might be one of those."

"But if not," Toshiko started, looked down and then looked up again. She blinked, pieces of her fringe catching in her eyelashes until she blinked them clear.

"Can I make a suggestion?"


	14. Chapter 14

Biker boots scuffed his heels against the floor. He had been moved from the cell to another small room, where he was chained to the chair and left. He scuffed a little more and then looked up as the door opened.

"I don't care, you just have to," an American voice announced, to someone behind him. Then the form in the doorway turned and came down the stairs, followed by a dark haired girl carrying a case and a bag, and a man, carrying two cases. They all came down and the girl and second man went to the table by the far wall. The tall American stopped opposite him and looked down at Biker Boots. Jack regarded the man in front of him carefully. Then slowly Jack smiled.

"Hi there."

"If you think I'm going to tell you anything."

"I've got another think coming?" Jack asked. "Or I'll never make you tell, or what… you have a cyanide capsule hidden on your person that will explode on command? Give me a new one?"

"I ain't telling you fuck all!"

"Oh, I've never had a cockney before."

"He's not cockney Jack," Owen said. Jack spun round to look at Owen.

"He sounds like he is."

"No, he sounds more like he's from Canning Town actually," Owen said, making that sound like it wasn't a good thing. Jack shrugged.

"Okay, it doesn't really matter. What we need to know is why you were here" Jack said. He moved to stand over the man. Biker Boots tilted his head back to look up but didn't seem too intimidated by Jack's threatening stance.

"You were trying to extract Ianto," Jack stated. "You needed him out of this building, why?"

The man just smirked. Jack stepped back and looked down at him, his eyes moving up and down slowly.

"Has that ever actually happened?" Owen suddenly turned to ask. "The cyanide capsule thing?"

"No," Jack said, his eyes not moving from the man in front of him. "That's just a complete piece of crap that filmmakers come up with. It would be nice to find a species that has evolved with a self-destruct button, that would be kind of fun. Unfortunately, I don't think you're it. You tortured Ianto."

The man smirked, "I don't know, is that his name?"

"And you interrogated him."

"If you say so."

"I don't think Ianto was lying about that." Jack gave a very pointed look down. "Nice boots."

Biker Boots smirked. "They haven't been cleaned to well recently."

The man looked up at Jack arrogantly; his face twisted in satisfaction, saying what was an entirely private joke. He didn't think that Jack would get the meaning, but Ianto had hinted at it. He had said enough for Jack to get the point now and he couldn't help the reaction he gave. Ianto might not remember what had happened between them, as Jack had taken him back to the cell, but Jack sure as hell did. He lashed out, punching the man hard on the side of the face. His head rocked, and Jack felt a deep satisfaction as the Biker Boot's cheekbone gave a little under the impact.

"Jack, it would be helpful if our interviewee was not unconscious," Owen said mildly.

"Sorry," Jack said stepped back, rubbing the knuckles of his right hand. Biker Boots brought his head back up and looked at Jack. His eyes stayed defiant but there was a trace of shock, as if he hadn't expected that.

"You wanted Ianto out of the Torchwood 3 facility, why?"

Biker Boot's snorted, rolled his eyes and looked away. Jack kicked him on the shin, making the man wince.

"Don't be childish," Owen told Jack. Jack looked at him and pouted.

"What is this? Bad cop, good cop?" Biker Boots asked, sneering at Jack as he did so.

"No," Owen said, and then nodded at Gwen. "She's a cop, and she's probably very good, but not here, and not now. What you have, is three very pissed off people, who are going to be bad. Are you ready for this Jack?"

"We are not getting anything out of him any other way, and we don't have the time to waste. Tosh, are you ready with those readings?"

"Ready and recording. We don't want to push this too hard, remember what happened last time," her disembodied voice came over the intercom. "And I'm getting a little further with… the other thing."

"Okay, Tosh, Gwen can monitor from here."

"Why? What happened last time?" Gwen asked.

"And you said after that we weren't allowed to use this thing again," Owen said pulling the mind probe out of it's box. He felt very aware of their detainee looking at them with great interest. But that, Owen knew, was all part of the game.

"I know, but this is necessary."

"Well, he's no good to us if his head explodes."

"What?" Gwen's head snapped around to look at Owen.

"That species has very high blood pressure. It won't have the same effect on humans, but maybe you should check his blood pressure just to be on the safe side," Jack said.

"I'm sure it's fine."

"Their head exploded? What species?"

"X'ancium," Jack said. "Very sort of, boneless creatures, that was probably why, they're not very solid so… it's works on humans, it's fine."

Jack took the device off Owen and started to connect it up. Owen set the computers running to monitor any reactions, just in case. Gwen turned around to help, checking the levels of the machine as Jack wired it in.

"Okay, Tosh, are you getting this?"

"Yep, all power levels are running normal."

"What's that do?" Biker Boots asked. He scuffed his feet a little harder on the floor, and squirmed a little in the chair. Jack watched him, seeing the telling shifts that gave away the man's increasing nerves. That was part of it. But Toshiko had been right, there was no time to waste playing games, they had to do this, and none of them could be merciful about it. Jack worried about Gwen's reactions. She was the one of all of them that would have some concern about the man's safety.

They were probably going to need it. Jack had absolutely no concern about this man, and Owen could be just as hard. He could have used Toshiko in the room, she would have been able to manage the machine better than Gwen but he wanted Gwen in the room, as the only person who would rein them in if it started to go too far. They didn't want this man dead, not just yet anyway.

"It's a mind probe," Jack answered pleasantly. He started to fit it to Biker Boots' head, and was very pleased when the man flinched and tried to pull away. "It drills into your consciousness, so anything we want to know, should come straight to the surface. You'll be singing like a pretty little bird, and the best bit…" Jack paused and straightened up again, giving the man a big beaming smile. "…It hurts like hell."

"You're bluffing," Biker Boots snapped. Jack widened his eyes in pretend shock.

"I'm not, is this the face of someone who bluffs?" he asked sounding insulted, and then turned to look at Owen and Gwen. "Do I look like someone who bluffs? Really, I mean, do I?"

"Considering how generally crap you are at poker, I'd say even if you did, that you're rubbish at it, so don't bother," Owen said.

"Well, there you go see. I'm not bluffing, it hurts like hell, you really can feel it drilling actually," Jack said, sounding very interested in the whole thing. He looked at Owen and Gwen. The latter frowned.

"How do you know that?"

"I tested it. I don't have any memories for two years of my life, it seemed a good way to have a look for them, if they were still there."

"Were they?" Owen asked.

"No, it must have been a memory lobotomy rather than blocking my subconscious." Jack beamed at the man. Owen watched the man's eyes shuttling from one person to the next.

"Now is the time to tell him you're not bluffing," Owen added helpfully. Jack frowned at him.

"The only people that say they're not bluffing are people that are bluffing, and as I'm not bluffing, I'm not going to say that I'm not bluffing, because then he's going to think that I am bluffing…." Jack started to argue. Owen rolled his eyes and looked at Biker Boots who was watching the scene with growing disbelief, and as he looked in Owen's direction he said.

"He's not bluffing."

A second later there was a scream as Biker Boots jerked in the chair and Owen started the mind probe. The man shuddered, rocking and jerking against the restraints that pinned him to the chair. The wood of the furniture creaked violently, Jack was quite thankful it was bolted down.

"Owen?"

"He's fine, it's safe. Try now, I doubt we need to go deep down to get what we want."

"The first part anyway. You broke into Torchwood 3 to extract Ianto Jones?"

"Yes."

"Why?" Jack snapped. The man gave a groan, gritting his teeth, trying to fight the effects of the machine. Owen and Gwen frantically checked the readings on the computer but inevitably their eyes were drawn to Jack and the man in the chair.

"Why?" Jack repeated himself. His tone was sterner, and he was ready to order Owen to push deeper if he didn't get a result. However, he did.

"The boss' orders, he hasn't finished with him."

"Why not?"

"I don't know!"

"Owen?"

"Vitals are a little erratic but we're safe."

"Push deeper; what did the boss still want from him?"

The man groaned, but proved himself to be stronger than he looked. His eyes rolled up and he gave Jack a malicious smile.

"He's very fond of him, especially when he screamed."

Jack felt his jaw tense and his hands clenched.

"Jack," Owen's voice was low in warning. Jack turned to glance at him.

"Used to make a right noise, tried to put up quite a fight but in the end just rolled onto his belly like a beaten dog," Biker Boots snarled. Jack turned his head to him, locking eyes with him, knowing full well what he was talking about and the fact that it had been witnessed by him. Jack felt a tightening in his chest but he swallowed it down.

"Owen, retract it a little, we need the facts, not anything else."

Biker Boots jerked a little, still grimacing and shuddering with pain. He was panting heavily as the pain rushed through his head. Jack knew how much it could hurt, and the person in question was always aware of it. Jack had felt it himself.

"What information did they want from him? It was more than about us, correct?"

"Yes."

"What did he want to know about, specifically?" Jack asked.

"It wasn't specific, the boss wanted to know everything."

"Who's the boss?"

Biker Boots lowered his head, shaking it from side to side, like a dog trying to shift water from his ears.

"Owen, deeper!"

Owen rolled his eyes, since he had just been told to do the exact opposite. Gwen watched the scene with concern. Her eyes were unable to stay on the computer, while the scene in front of her unfolded.

"Who is the boss?" Jack shouted.

"I don't know!"

"Owen!"

Owen did. "His vitals are going all over the place, but we are still safe… for now."

Biker Boots gave a heavy groan, his head flopping forward and still shaking, under the pressure of the pain.

"I want to know who he is!" Jack snarled. The man in front of him managed a glance up.

"I don't know, I've never met him."

Jack pulled back a little at that. "How have you never met him, if you've seen him perform a rape?" Jack asked the question flatly, shocked and mildly worried into saying what had been done to Ianto, out loud, almost as if what happened was nothing more than a minor irritation. He heard Gwen give a sharp gasp at how he spoke, but she said nothing, Jack didn't acknowledge her, instead he waited for his answer.

"I only heard about it, I never saw it."

Jack frowned, a sick realisation was slowly creeping up on him. He looked the man up and down and ended up at the boots. The ones that Ianto would recognise, not the person, but the boots. Jack suddenly lunged down and grabbed the man's ankle, hoisting it up off the floor.

"Jack!" Gwen snapped.

Again Jack ignored her, instead he yanked off the boot, and the man's sock. He looked at his exposed foot, and the red and sore looking blisters on the heel and by the little toe. Abruptly he dropped the foot and it smacked hard against the floor.

"What sort of boots do you normally wear?"

"Doc Martens."

"Shit!" Jack snapped. "How long have you worked for them?"

"Jack, what's going on?" Gwen asked. Owen kept an eye on the machinery but didn't change any of the settings. The probe was clearly still hurting, making the man shudder and wince but it would still give them answers.

"Four months."

"Shit!" Jack snapped again. "If you got Ianto out, what were you meant to do?"

"Send a message, the number is on the phone."

"What message?"

"Done."

Jack rolled his eyes upwards. "Tosh, are you getting this?"

"Yeah, I've got the phone, only one number in the contacts list, and I can't get it to register on the phone scanner."

Jack nodded. "It will be useless after that message."

"What should I do Jack?" she asked.

"Send the message. Let them think they've succeeded."

"But what if that's a trick?" Gwen asked.

"What were your orders? After you got Ianto out, send a message, then what?"

"Find a safe location, and keep him under wraps, until we got more orders."

"Turn it off, Owen," Jack snapped flatly. Owen did as he was told and the man sagged down in the chair, gasping for breath.

"Jack?" Owen asked, a trace of nerves in his voice.

"He doesn't know anything else. This isn't the person Ianto thought it was."

"How do you mean?" Gwen asked.

"Ianto recognised people by what they wore on their feet. One of them wore biker boots, like those. But this guy has only just taken to wearing them, hence the blisters. They sent in foot soldiers, knowing that we would - because Ianto would - assume it was the second-in-command."

"So they possibly weren't expecting to get him out, they were testing the defences and distracting us."

"Exactly, sending the text means that they think they have done what they set out to do," Jack said.

"So they will know think we are running around trying to find Ianto," Owen said.

"Or barricading the door," Jack offered.

"Or both," Toshiko's disembodied voice announced.

"How many people work for this guy?" Jack asked. Then he kicked the gasping man making him look up. "How many?"

He shook his head, looking incredibly weary. Beads of sweat stood out on his forehead, strands of hair sticking down to his skin. He blinked as some drops fell into his eyes and shook his head.

"I don't know, I swear."

"But I bet all of them wear army boots, Doc Martens," Jack said to the others.

"So we are no further along than we were before, the other guy won't know anything more, will he?" Owen said.

"No, all we can do is let them think it worked, that they have Ianto and we'll do what we can to get him back."

"It also means they know he got here, that we found him."

"Yes, so they know that we know as much as Ianto can tell us."

"Which again, isn't that much. We need to find them Jack," Owen pointed out, being rather obvious.

"On that score," Toshiko said, her voice filled with mild pride. "I think I have somewhat of a lead."

"That's good, we need something," Owen said. He looked at the man strapped to the chair. "What do we do with him and his friend?"

Jack snarled, he had a few answers to that. The most violent ones were tempered by Gwen putting a hand on his arm. The man, who was no longer Biker Boots reared back in the chair as he saw the look on Jack's face.

"Let's keep them separated and locked up, for the time being."

"Jack," Gwen said steadily, in warning. Jack turned to look at her, defiance glittering in his eyes.

"After that, who knows."


	15. Chapter 15

Ianto had woken up a while ago. But he didn't sit up. When he heard someone coming he would. He'd know who by the footsteps, Owen to check him, Gwen to feed him, or Jack to talk to him. Ianto wondered if Toshiko was angry with him, she hadn't come down. But she was more sensitive than the others, maybe she felt more hurt.

He felt bad about what he'd done. But he had to do it, he had to show them what it was like, for him. They didn't seem to care. Even after all of the disaster they had just ignored him, as always. Ianto hadn't been able to stand that.

Ianto lay there, he had no idea how long for. There was no concept of time, he had no idea how long he had been down here. It could have been days, or no longer than a few hours. All he did was eat, sleep and talk to Jack, because Jack wanted to know things. Ianto pulled the blankets tighter around himself as he thought of Jack.

Jack was a frightening concept. Even in his gentleness Ianto found him frightening, because he expected the turn at any moment. For months, despite all the other pains and terror he had to deal with, the one that held most fear was what Jack would do to him. He hadn't waited to find out, on the fateful morning, but he had no choice but to face the consequences now.

He couldn't help wishing that he hadn't said what he did, to Jack, after the bath and Jack very carefully shaving him and washing his hair. Ianto had blurted it out without thinking. He had wanted to say something, because Jack had been kind, and Ianto didn't understand the meaning of it. He had been unnerved by the closeness, and intimacy it had pulled up between them.

Ianto wasn't entirely sure what he had hoped to achieve by telling Jack what the man in the crocodile skin shoes had done to him. Jack had always flirted with him, and had made it quite clear that if Ianto consented that he'd most certainly have sex with him. Ianto had allowed the flirting, sometimes even responding in his own subtle way. But he had been with Lisa, she was his girlfriend, and he couldn't be unfaithful. So Ianto had still managed to maintain some professional distance.

Now, he wasn't sure what to do. He couldn't work out his motivation. It could have just been the closeness that unnerved him, or, Ianto wondered, was he simply trying to tell Jack that it had been done to him and if that was what Jack wanted as well then Ianto was quite used to it, or had he wanted to put Jack off? Informing him that he was soiled, that someone else had been there, using him. Ianto shuddered, his throat constricting as he thought about it, lying still while the man lay on top of him, pushing inside him, hurting him. Ianto whimpered, tears flooding behind his closed eyelids. He took a deep breath, and then tensed at the sound of footsteps.

They came down the metal stairs carefully. It was Gwen, the footsteps light and careful. Ianto pushed himself upright, putting his back against the wall, and as he inhaled, forcing back the tears, the smell of food caught in his nostrils, a smell that was disturbingly familiar.

"Hi," she said in the bright tone she had been using with him. He watched the door sweep open and her dark, low heeled boots as she moved into the room.

"Chinese, Owen relented and said you could have something… well, something a little more interesting," Gwen said, her voice staying bright, and false. It was starting to get on Ianto's nerves a little, hearing her talk to him like he was a recalcitrant child. He would have preferred Owen, or Jack, they were far less patronising. Owen was just calm, and practical, his mind on dealing with Ianto's injuries, and Jack, Jack was just impersonal, even if it was gentle there was a lack of emotion to it, as if Ianto was just something he needed to deal with, someone who hadn't killed him, nearly killed them all. Jack seemed to have put that aside, for now. Ianto guessed Gwen hadn't quite done that yet. Ianto could hardly blame her.

He paid attention as she put the tray on the floor.

"Beef in black bean, prawn crackers and an extra portion of spring rolls, since Jack said you always sneak them when you're walking down to the hub."

Ianto blinked in shock, how had Jack known that little detail? He looked at the tray, the plate of sauce and rice, a small bowl of prawn crackers and four spring rolls, still sat in their wrapping. There was a heavy pause and Ianto felt oddly obliged to fill it.

"Is it night then?" he asked. "What time…?"

He paused, unsure if he should have said anything. It didn't really matter what time it was. Time could hardly have any meaning in the dark rooms that had been his home for the last few months.

"Yeah," Gwen said, sounding surprised. So surprised that her voice went back to normal. "It's evening, six o'clock."

"Oh, okay then," Ianto said. Evening, he thought. Was it a day since he had come here? They had picked him up at night, when it was dark. It might have been morning. Could it be two days, or a week? Ianto thought.

"If you want, you could… I could ask Jack. You could come up and sit with us?" she left it as a question, her tone telling him that. She sounded surprised at what she was saying. Ianto felt a little surprised at what she was saying.

"You don't have to talk to anyone if you don't want to," she added, remembering just how boisterous their dinners together could be. "I'll ask Jack."

That took the decision out of both of their hands. Ianto sat back and waited. He wasn't sure what to make of the new development. Interaction with people was not, through recent history, something he favoured. He never had really. Most of the time it was necessary, so he just got on with it.

"Jack," Gwen said, over his head, into her comm. "Ianto's fine, but couldn't he come up and sit with us to eat? I mean, he's just stuck down here on his own and… oh… okay."

Ianto watched the movement as she crouched down, and she started to tidy up the tray.

"Jack's going to come down and help you up."

Ianto nodded his head. If Jack said so then Ianto would do it. His heart thumped a little, at the thought of having to be in the same room as them all, at the same time. It had been fine so far, he had dealt with them all singularly for the most part. He stopped thinking about it as Jack's boots slammed on the stairs and then he wandered into the vault area, coming into the cell.

"Gwen, you take the tray back up."

Gwen moved out of sight and Jack's figure took her place, crouching down in a similar position. Ianto didn't lift his head, he looked at Jack's boots, and his trousers, jumping a little as he felt Jack's hand on his shoulder.

"Steady there," Jack said. "Come on, it will do you good to move around a bit."

Ianto felt a little startled as Jack moved closer, sliding his arm around Ianto's waist and lifting him up onto his feet, drawing him close so Ianto could rest his weight against Jack. To keep himself steady Ianto put an arm over Jack's shoulder, the other gripped the front of his shirt. Jack paused for a moment, letting Ianto find his feet. They were hurting a lot less, and someone had brought in some fleece lined moccasins, which padded them well. Ianto leant against Jack, feeling the strength of him, it was unnerving and comforting all in the same sensation.

"Come on, take it steady now," Jack said encouraging Ianto forward.

Taking their time they shuffled along. Jack didn't hurry Ianto. He now had some idea of how capable Ianto was physically. The two men had rushed him out, which had weakened Ianto badly. Now after some rest he had strengthened again, although Ianto had no idea of the strain he had been put under. The kidnapping was no longer in his memory.

Ianto hesitated as he looked at the first few steep steps that would take them up to the hub. Jack rubbed his hand up and down Ianto's back.

"It's not far, you can do it, I'm here, just take your time."

Ianto blinked as Jack spoke in an encouraging tone. Very carefully he put his foot on the first step and Jack helped him up, then the second and third. Jack stayed a step behind, moving with Ianto at each pace, holding him and encouraging him on.

"There you go," Jack said, as they got up the stairs and he took Ianto through the archway that led into the main hub. Ianto's head had stayed firmly down throughout the walk but he glanced up a little as they reached the large, open space. It didn't look any different to him, but he didn't really expect it to. It had stayed perfectly imprinted in his memory, and he remembered the chaos that had been wreaked while they had battled Lisa.

"All right, not far to go," Jack didn't sound entirely convincing. Now he was discovering the inconvenience of having the conference room so high up in the building. Moving an invalid around the hub was not an easy thing, it was not designed that well. Still, Ianto shuffled along, leaning on Jack more and more as they went. Jack kept his grip firm as he coaxed Ianto along, eventually reaching the balcony. Jack smiled to himself as he saw Ianto's head incline to look at the coffee machine, just briefly. In the conference room the others were moving around, Toshiko ferrying containers of food out again, where she had heated them up in the microwave. Owen with his back to the door watched her and snapped.

"How the hell are we going to discuss what we need to do if…." He paused as Gwen glared at him and then looked past him. Owen turned and saw Jack and Ianto. Jack glowered but Ianto gave no indication of hearing what Owen had said, or getting any hint of the meaning. They could not discuss exactly what they planned to do, and talk through what they had found out with Ianto in the room.

They all thought that at least. Ianto had a rather different view of it. He wouldn't care, he probably wouldn't notice, most of the time he was talked about, over his head, and only shouted at, or brutally interrogated when he was talked to. It crossed his mind that this was some cruel torture of Jack's. That now, he was going to be dealt with for what he had done.

Jack had a sneaking suspicion of what Ianto thought. He also assumed there was no reassuring him. Actions would speak louder than words. Ianto could sit with them and eat, like he had done often before. Jack watched the others busy themselves setting the places, and he noted that Toshiko had very carefully positioned them all. Jack, naturally, at the head of the table, and Ianto on his left, she put Gwen next to Ianto and herself opposite. Owen took the last seat next to Toshiko. Jack led Ianto into the room, as Owen pulled open the door.

"Come on Ianto, you sit down."

Ianto did as he was told. He let Jack lower him into the chair, and he settled him down in a very fussy fashion. Jack moved the chair so Ianto was nearer the table, and he took one of the cloth napkins and very carefully tucked it into the neck of Ianto's sweatshirt. Ianto's hand moved to follow the gesture, but before he could touch Jack, Jack had pulled back and moved around him to sit down. Ianto's hand idly traced around the neck of his clothes and then went down into his lap. Jack pushed the portion of spring rolls at him.

"You have something to eat," Jack said. Ianto obliged by taking a spring roll and biting it in half. He tried to stop bits of pastry floating down, away from his mouth, but it was almost impossible, and Ianto didn't try to collect them up. Ianto thought that perhaps Jack wouldn't worry about that. He knew Jack well enough, he had spent enough time learning his habits, and Ianto knew a few stray crumbs wouldn't worry Jack in the slightest. Then he ate the other half of the roll, it tasted nice, they always did.

"Thank you," Ianto said, looking down at his food and using the softest tone of voice he had. Jack reached out to take his hand and then moved his hand back to the spring rolls. Ianto took another, he liked them, and Jack had bought them for him. He ought to eat them. Ianto started to nibble on the rolls carefully. Toshiko looked around and then gazed at Jack.

"I've got a little further with that translation."

"Oh… yes?"

"The sheet, we weren't sure what it was. I got a bit further. It looks like some sort of lettering…"

"Oh!" Jack said, with slightly more comprehension. "That sheet! Good, it looked like a letter."

"You never said that, you hardly looked at it!" Toshiko snapped. Jack blinked at her, feeling a little shocked.

"Well, it's just a letter."

"That I've spent the last two weeks working on… and… did you even look at it, look at the words?"

"Well, no."

Toshiko huffed. She tossed her hair back over her shoulders and stabbed at her food with her chopsticks. On the other side Ianto stirred his rice about with a spoon. He wasn't given chopsticks, he could barely manage as it was, adding chopsticks was too much. Toshiko had left out a spoon and a fork for him to use, for him to choose the best. He had taken the spoon, it was easier to manage, Toshiko probably knew that.

"Well, Jack, I…" she tailed off. Her head whipped round as a low subdued voice broke the silence.

"It's fine," Ianto said. He put his spoon down, resting his hands in his lap. "You can, talk about me. I know you need to… I didn't mean to get in the way."

Ianto kept his head down and watched as Jack's hand came into view, reaching over to take his nearest wrist firmly. Jack lifted Ianto's hand, bringing it up onto the table.

"You're not in the way, and we have no intention of talking over you. We're going to have a nice meal, and we're not talking about work, not in that respect anyway."

Jack let go of Ianto's hand again, putting it back by his spoon. Ianto took it, getting the hint. Then he jumped as Jack hand rose, gently taking his chin and lifting Ianto's head. Ianto kept his eyes diverted.

"Ianto, look at me." Jack again used that commanding, but unthreatening, tone that Ianto seemed to have heard a lot recently. He obeyed the order, lifting his eyes to meet Jack's. Jack regarded him with steady, concerned eyes.

"If there's anything we need to talk about, we'll do it later. The only reason we won't discuss it now, is that no one here has any intention of upsetting you. Okay?"

Ianto dropped his eyes as soon as he could, nodding his head a little. Jack let him go, gently brushing his fingertips across Ianto's cheek as he released him. Ianto turned back to his food, feeling even more confused by the people around him.

"Sorry," he said in a low tone. His hand reached out to take another spring roll and he started to eat it while Jack started to talk to Toshiko again.

"Tosh, there is something similar to that sheet in the archives in…"

"I know, I'm not an idiot, I looked if there was anything similar before I started…"

"Sorry," Jack said, sounding a little affronted.

"What else am I going to do?" Toshiko huffed. "I do actually work here, and I do have a brain."

"I know, it's why I hired you," Jack said blithely. "Honestly, you remind me of an old boyfriend, the one that used to sweep into rooms," he added to Gwen.

"The acrobat twin?" Gwen asked with a grin.

"Yeah, that's him, the best part of it was him sweeping into the room to tell me something that I already knew, and then tell me at the top of his voice everything that was apparently wrong with me."

"And then what?" Owen asked. "He died of exhaustion halfway through?"

"OI!" Jack snapped. He turned as he sensed Ianto jump at the sharp, and loud, tone. He reached out and squeezed Ianto's hand. "Sorry. Although in actual fact he did take a long time… then he got distracted."

Gwen started to snigger, "is that your answer to everything?"

"The world would be a better place if more people took that method on board…" Jack announced.

Ianto listened as the conversation went past him. Gwen was right, he didn't need to say anything, and there wasn't much he could contribute to the conversation. In fact, he didn't ever remember really talking much during their meals in the hub. Everyone else was quite content to cover that for him, and all he needed to do was relax and pretend to be involved.

But as he sat there, eating steadily, clearing everything in front of him, he was not forgotten. Not by Jack at least, who regularly reached out, just to pet his arm, or get him more prawn crackers and pilfer the last of the spring rolls that the others had ordered to give to him. Gwen on the other side did much the same, mopping up rice if he spilled some, keeping his water glass topped up and bringing him more of the baby formula that Owen was giving him to strengthen him up.

The hour they sat there - and Jack thought they could all at least relax for that time - passed easily, and pleasantly. It wasn't quite the same trauma as the kidnapping, where Ianto had been forced to accept Jack's concern and trust him to look after him, but Ianto's mind was slowly starting to get the point. No one was going to hurt him, and there was a stirring in the back of his mind that told Ianto that perhaps, that was never going to happen. They were going to look after him, and stop the people that did this. But that still didn't stop Ianto from wondering, what happened when all that was over. What did he do then?

Toshiko started to clean away the plates and cartons. Owen snatched a handful of prawn crackers and ran off on some pretence to get out of helping clear up and Jack went to Ianto and helped him up out of his seat. Ianto wavered a little as he stood up. Despite the fact the exertion of eating dinner with them was hardly energetic, it had taken more than enough energy out of him. Jack held him gently and ran a hand up and down Ianto's back.

"Come on, looks like you need to rest again."

Despite saying that, Jack didn't move for a moment. Ianto stayed still, his head down and eyes fixed on Jack's blue shirt and grey braces.

"Are you all right?" Jack asked.

"Yes, thank you, sir."

Jack huffed a little, a kind of sad laugh Ianto thought, but didn't comment. It wasn't his place to comment. Jack tightened his grip and Ianto tensed, a reaction that was so automatic that he couldn't help it. Jack eased it by not reacting. His hand running up and down Ianto's back stopped, resting in the small of his back.

"If you don't want to go all the way down to the vaults, you could use the bed under my office."

That could have been very suggestive if, of course, Ianto hadn't known what Jack meant, or if Jack had said it any other way. But Jack's voice had been nothing more than practical.

"There's no reason to keep you locked up, Ianto, and if you need us we're nearer."

There was a reason for that. They had perhaps averted any more infiltrations but Jack didn't want to take a chance. He wanted Ianto closer, he could change the locks as much as he liked, but something about this told him that perhaps that could be a futile effort. Ianto was clever enough, and no doubt, that cleverness had been passed on to the people torturing him. Ianto hardly knew what he had told them in the end, and Jack could hardly blame him.

Ianto nodded his head. "Yes, sir."

The nod had given Jack a thought that perhaps Ianto was making a decision, the two words told him that Ianto was agreeing because Jack had offered the suggestion. It was Jack's idea, therefore Ianto would do it. Gwen had given Jack the excuse to bring Ianto up, so he might as well follow through. It probably didn't matter to Ianto in the slightest where he was and in it's own way, Jack's room safely contained him.

"Come on then," Jack said, tightening his grip and leading Ianto out. Gwen was banging about around the coffee machine, trying to get it to work. That made Ianto flinch more than the worry of torture. Jack got him down the steps and away from Gwen's clear abuse of the machine as quickly as he could.

"Owen, help me, I'm going to put him down in my room."

"Can he manage the ladder?"

"It's no worse than the vault stairs. I'll go ahead and help him down, you just support him from the top."

Owen sighed, rolled his eyes but got up to do as he was asked.

"I'll go and get the blankets," Toshiko said disappearing off to do so.

The next few minutes were very blurred. Ianto was like that when things changed. It just confused him, however much he might know it was coming. He went into Jack's office and Jack clambered down the ladder. Ianto followed, very carefully and supported by Jack and Owen, but he got down without a mishap, and the blankets just seemed to appear. Ianto didn't even remember them arriving, they were just suddenly there on the bed and he was wrapped up in them as he clambered in and fatigue washed over him. Dinner had exhausted him, despite the fact he hadn't done much. He still wasn't strong enough, and Ianto didn't even know part of the reason for that. Jack settled him, gently stroking his face again and sitting by the bed.

"Okay?"

"Yes, sir."

Jack huffed again, with mild humour at his response. It wasn't very funny for either of them.

"I'd offer to get you a coffee but I think Owen might go mad at that. Do you want any more water, or formula?"

Ianto shook his head, closing his eyes. "No, thank you."

"Here," Jack said, making Ianto open his eyes again. Jack put a comm. device on the side table. "It's a private frequency, you'll just call me if you need to use it, okay. If you need anything just call me."

"Yes, thank you, Jack." Ianto closed his eyes again and then as he heard Jack's feet on the ladder he opened them again.

It wasn't until Jack was out, though his office and into the main area of the hub that it occurred to him. And it was at that same moment it occurred to Ianto exactly what he had done.


	16. Chapter 16

They reconvened in the conference room. Ianto was again sleeping soundly, tucked up safely in Jack's room. They were all eased by that, the vaults felt a little too far away for anyone's liking after what had happened. Now he was even safer, and contained well enough to suit their security precautions, he couldn't get out on his own. Ianto wouldn't even try. Jack got the feeling he could bed Ianto down anywhere and he wouldn't move from whatever room he ended up in. It wasn't a case of keeping Ianto contained because he was a risk, it was because he was AT risk. None of them wanted a repeat of the attempted kidnapping.

Jack took the coffee that Gwen gave him, wrapping his hands around the mug and taking in the scent that wafted up. It was nowhere near as good as anything Ianto could produce but it was enough. He looked to Toshiko.

"So, what have you found?"

"I think I've got it," Toshiko said. She looked around. "I followed the CCTV trail you asked and I programmed the computer to follow it back. It starts here, at the industrial estate, and I found the truck. Two red trucks went in that day, this was the one Ianto was in."

"How do you know?" Owen asked.

"Wait," Toshiko said, letting the CCTV run. "There, look, just on the edge of the camera's view."

All of them peered at the slight movement just in sight and she helpfully ran the footage back. Watching it back up, frame by frame, helped and then she ran if forward again. There was a flicker of a shadow by the back of the van, on the left hand side. The thick cover of the van was lifted and something slithered out. It moved on all fours, a little ungainly, but it was most certainly a person.

"I checked for any view of where he could have gone to and found this… It's a different circuit, but they were all pretty easy to access."

They watched clearer footage, moving away from the truck, which was just visible in the background. Ianto staggered along, crashing into the wall on one side and collapsing in a heap. He lay flat on the floor and then crawled forward. They all winced as they saw him scrabble into a bin bag and start gnawing at something like a desperate, starving animal.

"Tosh," Jack growled. It was something they didn't need to see. They could all work out for themselves some of the horrors that Ianto had been reduced to.

"Sorry," she said. "That road, the alley, leads out towards the phone box, eventually. He had to make quite a crawl, but it is possible. Now when he arrived there it was over just over fifty hours before he called us. Some of it's on CCTV but there are significant time gaps. It looked like he went to sleep in some boxes at some point, then I lose him for a while… but we know the end result."

"Well, we know he's weak, so that would account for any pauses," Owen said. "He curled up somewhere, mainly during the day by the footage, and he probably passed out more than once."

"But it made me wonder, he could have been unconscious in the truck for quite a while," Toshiko said. She looked at Owen, "you said he had bruising that might indicate being rattled around in a vehicle for a long while?"

Owen's eyes widened and he shrugged, "yeah, and the bruises looked recent and the pattering programme I have could assume it was that type of damage, but I won't swear to it. There's no guarantee it was from travelling in the truck."

"Toshiko, what are you thinking? Besides the fact he literally could have travelled from anywhere." Jack asked.

Owen rolled his eyes. "That will be fun to try and trace, what about the company that owns the truck." He frowned as Gwen and Toshiko shared a very smug look.

"I traced the route of the van. I did assume that the driver had to log where he was going but I wasn't quite sure where to start looking. It was a little hard but Gwen helped narrowing it down."

"Really?" Jack asked. He looked curious. Gwen was a police woman, searching and sifting information was something she could do, but she didn't like it. She much preferred being out in the field. That was why, Jack suspected, she stayed on the beat, out doing, rather than stuck in an office thinking. There were strengths to Gwen's nature, sitting and going through information was not why he hired her.

"I know an expert in the haulage industry, and don't worry, Rhys has no idea why I asked."

"What?" Jack snapped. "The last thing we need is someone getting dragged into this! Whether they're aware or not!"

"He won't be, and he has no idea why I asked. He thinks it's because of some kind of transport issue, and he still thinks I work for the police. He's hardly going to think that me asking about a haulage firm will lead to aliens."

"I don't think this has much to do with aliens!" Jack shouted. Toshiko sat up and opened her mouth, and was ridden over as Gwen stood up, slamming her hands down on the table.

"No, it doesn't, but since Rhys has suspicions that I work for an anti-terrorist unit or something like that, we don't need to worry. I said I wanted a bit of expert advice, he thinks he's helping me break up some kind of trafficking ring, and no one will be any the wiser since my going home to see him is hardly out of the ordinary behaviour!"

Toshiko sat forward a little. She wasn't the type to really start slamming her hands around but she place a hand on the table, further forward than she normally would. Again she wasn't noticed as Jack glared at Gwen.

"You can't guarantee that, and you might have put him in danger."

Gwen tensed, all of them knew the idea of danger to Rhys was something she never wanted to think about. Rhys was to be kept out of everything dangerous. Gwen would happily put herself into the line of fire, she could handle it, but it was clear she didn't have such confidence in Rhys.

"I haven't, I went home to see my boyfriend, something I do an awful lot, and he knows the company I asked about. They have bases in England, Wales and Scotland. They specialise in long distance haulage."

"So?"

"So, the lorry in question came down from Scotland. They move a lot from there, Scotland is their main base, London and Swansea are just because they are long distance. But they use other companies' bases to stop at. They all do it a little, use places to stop and stuff."

"And this relates to our lorry because?" Jack asked.

"The company in question uses Digital Tachograph cards, each truck has a system to record how long a driver has been driving, they are supposed to stop and rest at set times," Toshiko said.

"Digital?" Jack asked hopefully.

"Yes, I tracked it down, I have hacked into the logs. Each machine can print out the information, and people like me can lift it easily since the company records it anyway. Do you want to know what I found out, or get pissed off about Gwen talking to Rhys and helping me in the right direction?"

"That will come later," Jack said, glaring at Gwen, and then he looked at Toshiko. "Okay, tell me."

"I used the information I could find, we know the lorry we were looking for, and he made an unscheduled stop. He did a drop off in Aberdeen and was running late due to road works, so he set off back, but had to stop for a break. The information says he was due to pick up from a certain industrial estate in Lincoln, Yorkshire and then he was heading down to London."

"And we drove up to find Ianto, picking him up from that location?"

"Yes, now, I know we drove a lot faster than most and never got caught on record for doing so, but I used that, clocked how fast we travelled, Rhys told Gwen the fastest speed that a lorry could reach, empty and filled."

"And?"

"And he was rushing back, I worked out how fast he could drive to get to his destination and possibly where he could have stopped, but I did get his logged route from the company computer and bear in mind, we have no idea how long Ianto was in the truck. He has no concept of time, he told us that earlier tonight. This is the route, there are over one hundred lay-bys, but only one has something interesting close by."

"Shit!" Owen said. "And likely he could have been out that long, and yes, the injuries and bruising could testify to him being rocked about for a good length of time, if you interpret them that way."

"But you can't be sure of it."

"Jack, when did we last here from Archie in Glasgow?" Toshiko said.

"A month or so… just the usual e-mail, we were due another one, but we never really talk that much."

"E-mail, standard responses. Not exactly direct contact."

"No he wouldn't, Tosh," Owen said.

"I'm hinting that it might not be him. He'd never condone hurting Ianto, he doesn't condone hurting flies, this is Archie. Why the hell do we employ him?"

"He's very strange," Jack told Toshiko.

"You've said before, he's an overrated filing clerk, up there because the old house is nearby. If you want to hide from us…"

"Go to the belly of the beast," Jack snarled, looking at the map. "You're right Tosh, if that information from the haulage firm is accurate then it's the only place they can be."

"There's a gravel courtyard. We can't get satellite feed, it's a black spot, always has been, if we try and break through now they will spot it," Toshiko said. "But unless they have done some serious refurbishment, then there are cold dark rooms, a gravel courtyard big enough to make Ianto walk around and leave him in, and it does stretch down the driveway. We have the old blueprints on file."

"And there's enough brush and woodland for him to hide in to get to the road. Let's face it, that area was cultivated since Queen Victoria's time with wildlife, all of which had specific legends and myths around them; mistletoe, hawthorn, rowan, ash, oak, elder. The list goes on. They used everything with a supernatural link, around that house, and most of it is stuff that grows quickly, is strong, and can go wild."

"Jack, I took enough swabs, I can look for traces of sap, and use the soil samples," Owen said. "I can try and clarify if it is from there, if it's more than what he picked up from the industrial estate."

"I don't think we need to," Jack said. "Let's face it, they have some insider knowledge, and it couldn't all have come from Ianto."

"So what do we do?" Gwen asked.

Jack sat back and sighed. "We pay a trip to Scotland. I've neglected my duties. I own the place after all, it's time I took a look."

Owen, Gwen and Toshiko turned back to look at the tall, imposing manor house depicted on the photographs, one that lived in legend and seemed filled with shadows.

"We go back to where it all started," Jack said. "The Torchwood Estate."


	17. Chapter 17

Ianto sat quietly on the comfortable bed, with it's pristine white sheets, that matched the pristine white room. He kept his head down, hands together in his lap and he waited. Out in the corridor he could hear Jack talking in a low tone, so low that Ianto couldn't pick out the words but he knew it was Jack. His eyes roved around the room a little. It was tidy, and well maintained, if a little plain. He glanced down at the small bag which had been packed for him. Ianto wasn't entirely sure what was in it, tracksuits he assumed, and toiletries perhaps. He hadn't packed it, Gwen he presumed had. Ianto hadn't done anything except let Jack and Owen bundle him up in warm clothes and put him in the back seat of Owen's car, before driving off.

He lifted his head as he heard a shout from the grounds outside. As they had brought him in he had seen the soldiers outside, patrolling the area, and some covering the lower floor of the large, whitewashed building. Ianto had felt a little shiver of fear as they had entered, only tempted forward by Jack's arms tightening around him as he walked Ianto in.

Ianto didn't look up as the door to the room swung open a little further. He ducked his head down instead, but he saw Jack's sturdy boots come into view, and his coat tails swung around his legs as he walked to the bed, sitting next to Ianto. Ianto tensed and Jack, very pointedly, put his arm around Ianto's shoulders.

"Are you all right?" Jack asked him.

There was a slight pause, Ianto inclined his head towards Jack. Maybe it was being somewhere new, or maybe it was down to actually calling Jack by name earlier, but Ianto fought past his passiveness to ask, in a whispered tone.

"Where are we?"

Jack tightened his grip. "A UNIT hospital, a very good one. I'm owed a few favours, so you can stay here while we're away."

Ianto nodded, sitting still for a moment. He looked around again, and Jack waited. He knew Ianto was confused, and more than a little unhappy with the sudden change in circumstances. On the other hand, they didn't have time to waste. They needed to get to the Torchwood Estate and deal with whatever was there, taking a side trip to Glasgow and the Torchwood office there.

Owen had insisted on coming with them when Jack had brought Ianto. Rather than just letting Jack bring all the information on Ianto Owen had wanted to talk to the doctors there direct. He wanted to be happy that they understood every aspect of Ianto's care, Owen wasn't entirely happy about passing it on to someone else, not at this stage.

Truth be told, Jack wasn't too happy about leaving Ianto, and he sensed Ianto's disturbance at the turn of events. Jack tightened his grip on Ianto and pulled him a little closer, so when Ianto whispered something Jack picked it up.

"What if you don't come back?"

Jack closed his eyes for a moment, encouraging Ianto to rest against him. He turned and kissed the side of Ianto's head.

"We'll be fine. We know what we're walking into, and we can handle it."

He understood the full meaning of what Ianto meant as Ianto reached up to grip the front of his shirt. It wasn't just his worry about them confronting the group that did this, it was also Ianto not wanting to be abandoned. Ianto clung tightly, and he put his head down on Jack's shoulder, probably encouraged by Jack tightening his grip.

"Hey, now come on, you just need to stay here while we deal with this. You can't stay on your own, and all of us need to go."

"What if they come again?"

If they did, they would encounter more than enough experienced troops. Jack hadn't fudged the subject when he had called in this favour, he had made the situation very clear, including the danger Ianto was in. Security had been increased around the hospital, and it was already well defended. Jack would have preferred keeping Ianto in the hub, but he couldn't leave him alone, or with any strangers in there.

"They won't, we're going up to find them, and deal with them, and then I'll come and get you, I promise, okay?"

Ianto's head brushed against his shoulder in a very reluctant nod. Jack took a breath, he hadn't broached this subject yet, but he needed to now, before they met Gwen and Toshiko, armed to the teeth and ready for action.

"Ianto, you know about the Torchwood Estate, you didn't recognise it? Not at all?"

Ianto slowly shook his head, his hand tensed on Jack's shirt. "No, I didn't really see."

"You said you were blindfolded, but not all the time."

"Didn't look," Ianto whispered. His hand scrabbled against Jack's shirt and he pressed his face into Jack's shoulder. Jack gently held onto him, letting Ianto cling. He didn't want to be left, that was obvious enough, but the questioning could easily lead Ianto to think that a wrong answer meant his abandonment.

"Didn't look," Ianto repeated himself, his voice still low. "Didn't want to see."

Jack had to take into consideration Ianto's emotional state. Drugs and torture would have hardly made him particularly observant. Coupled with what he had been through. It might have even occurred to him, at some point, where he was but it hadn't entirely registered in his mind. Jack frowned, and wondered to himself, had he actually directly asked Ianto did he know where he was, where he had been. The key could have been as simple as that, the question might have unlocked the answer in Ianto's mind.

He snapped back to attention as he realised Ianto was still muttering. His hand clenching and unclenching on Jack's coat.

"I don't remember, Jack, I don't…"

"Shush," Jack said. "It's all right, it doesn't matter, it's okay." He rocked Ianto in his arms, which seemed to settle him, so Jack decided it was best left alone. They knew where to go, they hoped. In the end, they were only guessing, but as guesses went it was a pretty logical one. First they were going to Torchwood 2 in Glasgow, and then on to the Estate. Jack dreaded finding out if the first would lead to the second. Archie was hardly the type for betrayal, but the type that wasn't often seen to be, became the type that did. But still, Jack couldn't get his head around it, and believe it.

"Ianto, you'll be okay."

Jack tried to extract himself but Ianto clung tighter, hanging onto him, pressing himself against Jack, like he had in the cell. He buried his face against Jack and gripped on hard.

"Don't leave me, please, don't leave me."

He rocked Ianto again, making low shushing noises, trying not to give in to temptation and glance at his watch. They needed to get back, to meet the girls and head off, but Jack didn't want to rush this. He wanted Ianto to feel reassured as they left him here. It didn't seem to be working, Jack hugged Ianto gently, feeling the tension in his body. Jack felt Ianto cling and a second later Ianto blurted out.

"It's my fault."

"No, it's not Ianto. We need to deal with this… you know that, and you know I can since… Ianto?"

The younger man hadn't said anything, there was just a subtle shift in him that seemed to ripple over to Jack. As it brushed against Jack he paused, and thought for a moment, leaving his sentence unfinished while he considered what the change in atmosphere meant.

"Ianto, what's the matter?"

Ianto shifted, and held tighter to Jack. His stress levels were rising again and Jack got the impression he wasn't going to like what he was about to learn, because he was about to learn it. If something was going on, he wanted to know about it.

"If you have anything you need to tell me Ianto, now is the time to do it."

Ianto picked up on the threat. One that wasn't actually meant, Jack just phrased the sentence that way, so Ianto could assume that not telling Jack something he needed to know, could result in serious damage to his plan. Which would more than likely lead Ianto to assume that Jack might still punish him for what happened, or worse, leave him. It wasn't fair to do it to him, but Jack needed to know, and considering the current state of affairs Jack intended to get the information any way he could.

"Archie knew what happened."

"What?" Jack snapped, shocked into answering without thinking. He had heard Ianto clearly enough, but he couldn't help sounding like he hadn't really heard him.

"I told him," Ianto whispered, his voice lowering in response to Jack's reaction. Jack stayed still for a moment, Ianto was tightening his grip, clinging to Jack like a frightened child. It took a few seconds for Jack to absorb that information. He exhaled gently and nodded.

"Okay, did he know where you were?"

Ianto's head shook. "No, no, I never told him that, I didn't tell him much, just that I'd left and… that I needed help with the server."

"Ah, he helped you access," Jack said. Ianto nodded. "Did he know you were in trouble with me?"

To put no finer point on it, Ianto had been. If Jack had caught him after he had fled, within the first few days, or even weeks, Ianto would have been in for a very rough ride. Jack would have thought twice before killing, or even retconning Ianto, but he would have brought Ianto back to Torchwood 3, by any means necessary, and incarcerated him there. There was no denying he had been a useful employee, both at London and Cardiff, in many ways. Jack would have waited to see if he could have brought Ianto to heel, somehow, before taking any drastic action.

In answer to the question, Ianto nodded. "I asked him not to contact you, but I wasn't sure whether he would or not."

"Ianto, at any time after you were captured, did you see Archie, at all, even just a vague hint that it might have been him?"

"No," Ianto shook his head again. "Sorry, please don't…" Ianto pulled on Jack's clothes so hard Jack thought they might actually tear. Very gently Jack prised Ianto's tense, clinging hand off the front of his shirt, and held it. As he freed himself from Ianto's grip, his hand relaxed, his entire body sagged against Jack, as if he was giving up.

"Ianto, look at me."

Ianto did, he met Jack's eyes. There was so much resignation and despair in Ianto's eyes that Jack wished he hadn't asked to see it. He gave a gentle smile and brought his other hand up to stroke Ianto's cheek. There was a mild ripple of tension as Ianto reacted, but his eyes stayed steady.

"I'm not going to be angry at you, and I'm not abandoning you, okay."

Ianto nodded, his eyes dropping but then flickering back up again. A tear ran out of Ianto's left eye. Jack brushed it away with a light touch.

"But you wouldn't have come to me if you didn't want them stopped, so I need to go and do that, and you need to be looked after. You will be safe here, I promise, and then when I get back, I'll come and get you. All right."

As he talked Jack gently extracted himself from Ianto's grip. Ianto sat still, blinking heavily. Jack's hand moved from Ianto's cheek to cup his jaw, and Jack leant in. Ianto didn't pull back, but there was tension in his jaw as Jack brushed his lips against Ianto's, just for a moment. As he pulled back he looked at Ianto again.

"It's okay Ianto."

Ianto nodded, eyes dropping as the door brushed open again. An elderly man in a white coat stepped into the room, his feet making no noise on the thick carpet.

"Jack, he's had a long journey, you need to let him get some rest."

"Okay, thanks Tim," Jack said. He stood up and dropped another kiss on Ianto's forehead. "Tim will look after you. He's good at that."

Ianto watched Jack's boots and coat tails disappear out of the room. Tim's neat, black and shiny shoes stayed where they were before moving out of view to go to the window. Slowly Ianto shifted, lying down and curling up on the bed, burying his face into the pillow.

Tim left him for a moment, instead he watched as Jack walked towards the car, where Owen was waiting impatiently. Tim had known Jack for a very long time, knew an awful lot about him, though rumour and experience. He gave a quick glance at Ianto on the bed, and decided a sedative was probably the best thing for him. Looking back, he regarded the set of Jack's shoulders. That stance said everything.

Whoever had hurt the young man that Jack obviously cared about, they were about to have a very bad experience.


	18. Chapter 18

The journey was tense, not fraught, but it was tense. By unspoken agreement they didn't stop. They picked up food from a drive-through and now and again pulled in to swap drivers, but that was it. They slept, worked and drove in rotation. Once they reached Glasgow they stopped and Jack directed Gwen through the streets, to a very nice, but run down area of the city. They pulled up outside a dilapidated row of buildings. Gwen looked at the row; all with plaques on the doors, presumably telling people what businesses' resided there.

"This is it?" Gwen asked.

"Yep, the end building, the largest, and the basement runs right across, and a little way into the backyards," Jack said.

"Why so much basement?" Toshiko asked.

"Storage, none of the other buildings are aware of it, you can only access it from the Torchwood offices," Jack said. "And, we do like the underground look."

Nobody reacted to the mildly flippant comment. It was what Jack did to cope, no one could complain about that. They all had their own little ways. As they got out of the SUV Toshiko looked up at the building. In the bright sunlight Torchwood 2 looked dusty and neglected. The masonry and window frames had not been painted for years, and the glass had probably not been cleaned once over the same length of time.

"Should we just do it like this?" Toshiko asked. "Just park up and walk in, right in full view."

"Yes!" Jack snapped. He strode up the stairs, and there was nothing about his usual casual walk. His hands didn't drop into his pockets, there was nothing disarming about his behaviour – a trick Jack often used – or anything to suggest he was casually dropping in. If things had gone wrong up here then they were either expected, or not. Jack took out a key and started on the door. He tried the bottom lock, clicking the key a couple of times before he realised that wasn't locked. He turned to look at the others and without speaking they looked around and then drew their guns. Jack flipped the keys around on his chain and pulled another. He put that into the top lock and turned it.

Within the mechanism the lock clicked back. He turned to look at the others and he opened the door, taking his time and wincing as the hinges creaked. Jack peered around the door and then shouldered it open. He wrenched the key free and pocketed his bunch, looking around as he stepped into the dusty hallway. Lifting his chin he inhaled, dragging the air as deep into his lungs as he could. Then he released it gently.

"Smells like business as usual."

"Doesn't anyone dust in here, ever?" Gwen asked, coughing. She looked up at the patch of wall above the door. "Looks like the damp is getting in."

She gave a cough and looked around. Three torch lights moved around, taking in what they could as they stepped into the dim, neglected hallway. Jack strode past them, though the open door on his right into the room and he yanked on the blinds. The string came away in his hand, he looked at it, and then at the rotten wood that used to attach it to the mechanism at the top.

"No offence Jack," Gwen said, looking around. "But when did you really know that Archie was here?"

"2005, I had to come up when the Loch Ness Monster broke down."

"What?" Owen snapped. "The what broke down?!"

"The Loch Ness Monster, it was swirling a little, I just came and fixed it… long story, never mind…" Jack said. "The reports are here somewhere… somewhere…"

He kicked a box and papers scattered everywhere, he looked around the room. It was nothing short of a mess, it was something akin to the way the Torchwood 3 archives had looked until Ianto got a hold of them. And there was a good reason why he had spent so much time down there. What else Archie was doing Jack didn't want to think about. He didn't exactly have any current cases to deal with.

"When did you last get a message from him?" Toshiko asked. She was pushing papers aside to get to the computer.

"Four months ago… and then six before that. We just exchange messages twice a year."

"Oh, like Christmas and Birthdays, are you two related?"

"No, no… oh my God no!" Jack snapped.

"Concentrate Jack!" Owen snapped back. "Gwen, take the second floor, I'll take the first. Tosh get a handle on that computer, if you can."

"Who put you in charge?"

"You, if you are absent, and you seem to be now. Check before you go anywhere Gwen, you know the levels of security traps that can be left."

"Sure," she said.

Jack looked around. "Fine I'll… I'll take the basement."

The smell hit him the moment he stepped down. Sickly air rose up around him as if it was trying to choke him. Jack grimaced and swallowed down the bile rising in his throat. He fought his way past the feeling and reached the bottom of the stairs. Reaching out he flipped the light switch to his right, the nearest bulb came on with a dull, unenthusiastic glow, that didn't really do much. Jack could see more shadow than light. At the far end of the hallway a second bulb flashed on and off, like an over dramatic extra in a horror movie. It certainly set the scene and something about it told Jack that this was the place to be. He pressed his comm. to activate it.

"Anyone getting anything?"

"Just files," Gwen said. "But they have been gone through, thoroughly. Everything is back in place, but not put in neatly, all the edges are bent and ripped."

"That could just be Archie," Toshiko said. "Jack?"

"Yeah, yeah, it could be. But if it looks like everything has been gone through, then we suspect someone else, and they've had time if the evidence is that extensive. What about you Tosh?" Jack asked.

"Not much on the computer, but again, that's Archie. But what is here is very strangely jumbled. Records I can pick up say it's been copied, but months ago. As far as I can tell, this computer hasn't been used for about five months, and there's enough dust on the desk to hint at that."

"Shit," Jack said. He started to move down the corridor very slowly. He drew his gun, but instinct told him, there was no one here to shoot. His eyes carefully moved over the floor, and up to chest level. Trip wires were easily set, but he saw nothing. Crouching down to check the floor, he looked at the puddles of water, of grime and rodent prints. But there was nothing else, no sign of any other life. Jack looked through archways, and opened doors. Rows of boxes, shelves, stacks and even cryogenic chambers in one room, came under his torchlight, but nothing else. Until he flashed his light into the room four doors down on the left.

Jack grimaced, his head turning away from the scene caught in the harsh light of his torch. His throat constricted and he coughed, trying to hold down the contents of his stomach. There wasn't much, just a sandwich and a doughnut from two hours ago, but the taste of them rose up, clashing with the scent forcing it's way down his throat. But he didn't move from the doorway, he stood and looked. Talking into the comm. again he tried to breath through his mouth, and heard the tension in his voice.

"Owen, what about your floor?"

"Same as Gwen, just rummaged files, although was there someone else working with him, because there's another desk up here?"

"Not to my knowledge, if you haven't found anything useful, then get down here."

"Jack, what's wrong?" Gwen asked, her voice filled with worry. Jack said nothing, he knew they would all come running, and there was no point in saying anything further. Jack didn't know what to say. He backed up, turning his head away from the sight while he waited for them.

He didn't have to wait long, Toshiko came first, then Owen and then Gwen. Toshiko hesitated as she reached the bottom of the stairs, pausing to take in the air, lifting her chin to scent almost like an animal following a trail. Toshiko frowned, looking a little nervous, and then her head spun round as Owen's feet thundered down the staircase. She stepped aside to let him go first, but his swift pace slowed as he walked down towards Jack. Gwen came down as Owen got halfway. They all came towards him, and he stepped back away from the door. Owen grimaced, as he looked into the doorway. He looked away and swallowed heavily.

Gwen had no such reserve. She took one look and turned away, her stomach retching violently. Staggering away she put a hand on the nearest wall to steady herself and bending over she vomited up what remained of the last meal she had eaten, and once that was gone, she carried on. Toshiko walked the other way, coughing and choking.

Owen, however, could do no such thing. Jack watched him brace his back to walk in the room and sweep his torch up and down. He was the medic, he had to be strong, and he had to do this. Jack could see that running through his entire body

"Jack, there had to be a light in here." Owen strained his voice as he spoke.

"Sorry," Jack said. For not doing it before now and for actually doing it. He scrabbled for the light switch and flipped on the light. Under his hand the old fashioned switch felt strange, and comfortingly familiar. Archie had not updated the lighting. There were old switches, fittings and twisted cables so old that Jack marvelled at their survival. But like Archie, they had gone on, until now.

"Owen?" Jack asked.

Owen gulped, lifting his head to try and take in clear air, but nothing came though. Instead Owen swallowed the stale air and looked around. Lifting a little patch of ginger hair, streaked by grey, off the rotting corpse Owen looked at Jack, and tried to seem composed.

"We have him on record, so I can run a DNA comparison, but I think it's safe to say…"

Jack coughed, and found his own voice.

"That is Archie."


	19. Chapter 19

Jack the Ripper was a better prospect than this, Jack thought. He had been around for that, just a little snippet of history. It was not much of a claim to fame to say that he had met the man in question. That took everything away from the legend. But suffice to say, this was worse.

"It's definitely him," Owen said. He knelt beside the body, trying to find some cause of death, it could have been anything, considering the wounds the corpse seemed to have. All of them combined, more than likely, Owen concluded.

"Are you sure?"

Owen nodded. "The DNA corresponds with our sample on file. I've gone in deep to get the sample. There is no mistake."

"Can you find a cause of death?"

Jack looked the body up and down. There probably didn't need to be a cause. The rotting body was splayed out on the floor. The chains were still locked around the wrists and ankles, spread-eagling the remains on the floor. There was probably something more dignified that they could do with him, but for now Archie had to lay there, what was left of his white flesh hanging strangely on the frail form, as if it might drop off at any time. They had to be thankful the cellar was so cool, otherwise the smell could have been much worse.

Owen lifted Archie's shoulder and then lurched back as some of the flesh came off in his hand, sliding off the bone.

"Shit!"

Owen stopped and lowered his head. Trying not to acknowledge his suddenly lapse. Then he looked up and eyed the body again, hitching as he took a breath.

"Judging by the… he was left here. Not too long before he died, whoever did this knew he wasn't going to last. I'd say a few months ago. It's cool down here, and I don't know what they might have done to him, or the air. Some of what we know, they know, might screw up the readings. But I'd say he died before the last email you two shared, or at least assumed you shared, but after Ianto contacted him."

"They found a better prospect."

"I'd say that, poor fucking bastard."

"Jack!"

He snapped his head round at the sound of Gwen's voice. Owen heard it, looked up and then went back down to what he was doing. He wanted to do it, because then he could wrap Archie up and then put him away in the vaults, there were spare drawers in the chambers two doors up. It was all they could do for him, for now. Jack left him and went to Gwen.

"What?"

"Look at this?" She moved the specialist light over the wall. "Blood spatter, here, and over here. Not huge and maybe days apart."

"Jack? I have the same thing in this room, next door," Toshiko said appearing in the doorway. "The spatter isn't the same but, it looks like more than one person was held here."

Jack bit down on his lip, blinking slowly as he took in the information. "Or one person was given the impression of being moved around a lot."

Neither woman answered him. They just waited, while he stared at the marks of blood caught up in the light that Gwen was holding. She moved it a little around the room and flinched as something glittered. Toshiko stepped forward and peered at the flash. Very gingerly she reached out, and using a pencil lifted the cuff. It was about six inches in radius. She turned to Jack, and Gwen.

"A collar, they chained him to the wall like a dog," Jack said, his voice tensing. Then he blinked and snapped back to business. "Check the DNA of the blood, let's match it before we come to any more conclusions. It would be good to know how many people have been down here."

Toshiko nodded, disappearing down the corridor to get the kit off Owen. It wouldn't take them long to get samples, and find out who had been down here. Jack and Gwen waited, looking around the room.

"Do you think they really did that, pretending to move him? Why would they?"

"Disorientation, it would give a false impression to him, make him think there was more to it, more of them."

"Perhaps testing whether he'd try to escape, during the alleged journeys," Gwen mused. Jack turned his head sharply to look at her.

"I never thought of that."

"You would expect, really, that he'd try to escape."

"He didn't, he wouldn't, because he didn't think he'd been caught by strangers, he thought it was me."

This time it was Gwen's turn to snap round sharply. Her attention came away from the cold, stone room to look up at Jack.

"He really thought you'd do that to him?"

"Yep," Jack said. There was a pause as Toshiko sidled past them, moving around them to the far room, where she had found the blood spatter. She went in without interrupting them, she didn't want to add any speculation to their conversation. What Ianto had done to Jack had shocked her, it worried her, finding out just how unstable Ianto was. Frighteningly so, considering how long he had been working around them, with Lisa hidden away in the basement. She had said nothing about her fears for him at the time, and could say nothing about them now.

Instead she concentrated on what she was doing and listened to Gwen as she asked.

"Would you really…? Have done anything like that to him, if he'd stayed?"

"No! Gwen! I was angry, very angry…"

"He had just killed you."

"I know, I know that, and I should have locked him up, I should never have left him."

She turned away, her reproach audible by the fact she didn't say it. But it was something she would never have advocated. They waited, hearing Toshiko working in the next room, while they stared into another. Until Toshiko came to analyse the forensics on the walls in there, the room offered them nothing.

"Jack, do you think he…" Gwen started and paused as Toshiko shuttled past them. Both of them stepped back to let her into the room. "could he have know, any hint that he knew about you, what you could do?"

"Not that I knew of, and when I asked him he didn't say so," Jack said. "But, he was thorough, he had researched me, there was a lot of rumours about me. Maybe he knew something, but what did killing me achieve then, except pissing you lot off."

"Jack, he couldn't have known that I knew," Gwen said. "Maybe, that plan we saw wasn't his ultimate aim."

"He thought I'd kill him, he wanted me to kill him," Jack said.

"Why did he run away then?" Owen snapped.

"Good point," Jack said.

"Oh, for God's sake Jack! If you were going to kill him, you would have done it then and there, we all know that. You're not a prolong it kind of guy!"

"Depends what I'm doing," Jack snarled back. Gwen glared up at him, blinking suddenly as he looked up.

"He wanted us to do it. Ianto didn't bank on me knowing what I did, and he also knew, I'd be first in, I'd find you."

"And you'd fire the rest of them up. He knew us all so well."

"Not enough, by the sound of it," Owen drawled.

"He wanted you lot to kill him and then I'd wake up. We only hurt him, not ourselves. I came back too soon, I just didn't do it right."

Gwen reached out to grip his arm. "Jack, it's not your fault, you could hardly take in what he really wanted, all things considered."

"We didn't anticipate enough on both parts. Poor Ianto," Jack sighed and then jumped.

"Yes, Jack, it was him. The blood traces are his, he was here, they kept him here. They … tortured him here," Toshiko said.

"Tosh, give me the kit," Owen held out his hand. She passed it without a word. Owen went off back to the room where Archie now lay. Jack didn't move he looked up and down the hallway, the stone basement that, like any other Torchwood building, held horrors and secrets. There was just too much to take in.

"How old were the traces Tosh?" Jack asked, amazed at how calm his voice was.

"Months. There is a bit of a range, he was kept here for a while."

"And he was in here," Owen said. "Not at the same time as Archie. I don't think they'd want them to meet, plus Ianto probably would have said something about it."

"Not unless I asked him directly," Jack mused. "But then again, he did tell me about Archie, and he hadn't seen him. And the shoe description didn't match anything that Archie would have worn."

"Not crocodile skin shoes then?" Owen asked.

"Unlikely, same with biker boots, and even army boots, although that leaves a worrying scope for it never being the same two people."

"You mean he was just seeing different people in the same uniform?" Toshiko said.

"Yes."

"They've got what they needed from this place. What do we do now? Jack?"

"How do we attack a house that knows we are coming, and can cover every angle with think of?" Toshiko asked.

Jack looked up and down the damp corridor. He took a deep breath, inhaling the scents of the basement, the dampness, the death, and something else.

"We need to take a little side trip."


	20. Chapter 20

Jack drove them to a small suburb of Glasgow, to a house, a bungalow that looked utterly inconspicuous, until of course the dark, sleek, SUV pulled up outside. Jack drew into the driveway, obliterating the crazy paving, and casing a shadow over the neatly kept lawn. He opened the door and stepped out, looking into the vehicle, at the very confused passengers.

"Trust me, just come on."

"Shit!" Owen said, as he stepped out of the passenger side and bashed into a set of wind chimes. They clashed loudly and Owen stepped away from them like he was dealing with an unexploded bomb.

"Jack, why are we here?"

"Checking the defences," he said, stepping up to ring the doorbell. "Trust me."

"Not likely," the woman said as she opened the door. They all looked at her. Mid-thirties, they all guessed, her long dark hair fell down her back, she wore a simple dress of black cotton that cinched in to emphasise a tiny waist. She was small, no more that five feet high, but something about the way she faced up to Jack told them all that the Captain wouldn't move her without a fight.

"Nice to see you, Charlotte, how are you?"

Oddly, she smiled. "Good, Captain Harkness, I hope you're not keeping well."

"Never, believe me, never. I need to speak to her."

"She's expecting you; do go through; refreshments will be brought."

"Charlotte, thank you."

Charlotte stepped back. "Never thank me, Captain. You know what that can bring."

Jack gave her a curious glance and then headed off into the dark corridor that made up the centre of the house. He followed the darkness to the light at the end, and it opened out on a sunlit filled space. The living room had been knocked through to the conservatory, so the sunlight streamed through to the very traditional looking room. There was a neat Welsh dresser against one wall, filled with plates and china, and all manner of knick-knacks. Opposite on a wall between two doors was a shelving unit packed with books. Gwen peered at some of the titles, frowning as she looked at the lower shelves, books about witchcraft, the occult, and alien encounters contrasted with the higher shelves, of romance novels, erotic fiction and horror.

Jack swept past it all, as they stared around curiously. He made his way to the end, where the sunlight streamed through the glass and to where a young girl sat, in a wheelchair. She glanced up at him and then went back to finishing the row of knitting she was working on, the needles moving swiftly, with a competence that came from years of experience.

"Hello, Jack."

"Hello, Letty." He perched himself on the padded stool that was nearby, with his back to the sunlight, resting his elbows on his knees and cupping his chin in his hand.

"It's Teeley now," she corrected him calmly. Jack raised his eyebrows.

"Okay, hello Teeley. Why the new name?"

She slowed her knitting, the needles still moving, and the wool wrapping around them, almost as if her hands were not moving in the same time frame as the rest of her. The others blinked as they watched, all of them, one after the other, unable to focus, giving a slight shake of their heads to ease the sudden feeling. Jack didn't look down, so he didn't give the same reaction. Teeley looked at him.

"I like it," she said, and her hands went back to their previous swift speed. Jack shrugged.

"As good a reason as any I suppose."

"You would know," Teeley said with mild, calm, emphasis. Jack frowned; Teeley glanced up from her work and smirked. "Well, you do."

"Coffee," Charlotte announced, walking in through one of the doors by the bookshelf. She was carrying a large tray that held a steaming coffee pot, and cups and saucers, and also a plate of sandwiches, piled high. Gwen noted the items, and realised the woman had only been gone a minute or so. She glanced up to Owen and Toshiko, who didn't notice her reaction.

"Oh, I'm starving," Owen said and then he proceeded to dive in and snatch two sandwiches before Charlotte even got the tray down on the coffee table. She gave him a very disapproving glare. Owen looked at her, face full of sandwich.

"Do you need help?"

Charlotte smirked at him. "No, thank you, I'll just bring the cake tray and then leave you to it." She turned to look at Teeley as she said the last part, the little girl nodded.

"Thank you Charlotte," the girl said. Her hands were still working deftly, Jack watched the others carefully and then turned to look out at the garden that stretched out from the conservatory. Gwen looked at Toshiko and Owen, then at Charlotte's retreating back.

"She didn't make those sandwiches in the minute she was gone, how did they know we were coming."

"I always know when the Captain is coming," Teeley said.

"You must have a busy mind then," Jack quipped.

"And you a filthy one," Teeley snapped in mild disapproval.

"Well, if you knew I was coming, I suppose you know why?"

Teeley said nothing for a moment, she carried on working and then looked up at Jack again. "Yes, thank you Jack, I will take some refreshment."

Jack looked mulish at the answer to a question he hadn't even asked, but he got up from where he was perched on the stool to get Teeley a drink, and presumably something to eat. The others watched him carefully. The young girl was only a few feet away, but she concentrated on what she was doing, and regarding the view from the expanse of conservatory as Gwen leant forward and whispered.

"Who is she?"

"Long story," Jack said. Gwen huffed.

"You need to tell us something Jack, why are we visiting her?"

"She's Torchwood, kind of. There are three girls, three of them, based in three different locations."

"Glasgow," Owen said. "And London and Cardiff I presume."

"Yes," Jack said. "We don't know where they came from, or who they are, or even really what they do. They are linked but they can never be in close proximity to each other, so they were separated. They know a lot about what happens, what isn't seen."

"You mean they're like psychic or something," Toshiko asked.

"Something," Jack said, loading a plate with a few sandwiches, before he picked up the coffee and plate and took it back over to Teeley. He put it down on the table by her side. She stopped knitting and after tucking the ends of the needles into the ball of wool she placed it by her side, in her wheelchair, out of the way.

"Thank you, Captain," she said, taking a delicate sip of her drink. She watched him as he settled back down on the stool, and sat back in his previous position. It meant he was looking up at her face, like a child ready to listen to a story. The others watched him from deeper in the sitting room, unsure of what was happening, but realising that the situation, for the moment, had nothing to do with them.

"You not taking coffee, Captain? Surely you don't feel nervous about drinking it anymore."

"No, Teeley, I just don't particularly want anything."

"You haven't brought him, the other one."

"He's not up to being brought anywhere close to Glasgow," Jack replied. The three of them listening looked at each other. Toshiko mouthed, 'Ianto,' shrugging to make it a question. Owen shrugged back in a clear, and irritated, don't know.

"Will you keep him?" Teeley asked.

"He's not a dog."

"But proven to be faithful," she said. Jack looked at her, his face giving nothing away.

"And also possibly useful, do you think?"

"He holds the keys to many doors, Captain. One in particular that you don't think can ever be opened again. But he might, and maybe will, lock another."

Jack sat back. "Which door? Which doors?"

"I don't want to take all the surprises away from you. You have to live for something, Captain. We like to see you enjoy a surprise."

"Okay," Jack said, sounding less than happy. "I know you do. Are there any waiting for me at The House. Tell me Teeley, what am I facing?"

"Nothing the Captain can't handle," she told him with a smile. "And everything is in place, all your work remains. You're always a surprise wrapped up in a very pretty package, now is the time to prove it."

"Should I?" Jack asked. He looked at the young girl with a serious face. She sighed.

"Oh, for God's sake have some coffee Jack, and something to eat. She won't let you leave unless you do!" Charlotte snapped as she returned with another tray. It sat next to the sandwiches and coffee, a teapot and a plate piled with cakes.

"Charlotte's been baking," Teeley told Jack. Owen looked at the cakes carefully.

"That's cherry cake, that's a Victoria sponge, and that's Madeira."

"Nice," Owen said around a mouthful of cherry cake. Charlotte poured some tea, loaded a neat plate of sandwiches and brought it over to Jack. He took both and looked at it.

"You need to be strong, Jack, not just now, but for a long time."

Jack took the drink, and the plate.

"Teeley, tell me."

"You don't need me to tell you, you're as strong as you ever were Jack. Just this time, you have a reason to be."

"Well, that was nice and strange," Owen said, dropping down into the passenger seat, having been once again assaulted by the wind chimes. "What was that for? Who the fuck is she?"

"Long story," Jack said as he put the SUV into reverse and backed up out of the driveway.

"The way she talked Jack, it was like she knew about us, about… I don't know, you need to tell us," Gwen said, leaning forward from the backseat.

"Yes, yes, but let's close the gap. At least I know now, I can attack Torchwood House with the element of surprise."

"They will know we are coming Jack, how can we surprise them?" Toshiko asked. Jack turned and grinned.

"Because I still know something they don't."


	21. Chapter 21

As the light faded from the sky Jack pulled the SUV in to the car park of a tiny bed and breakfast. The old lady that ran it already had guests so she had to open up the second floor to accommodate the Torchwood team. She said nothing, just sending her two granddaughters to open up the rooms.

At the end of the second floor, was a small parlour which the granddaughters had also dusted through; and after a very good cooked dinner the team congregated in there as the bright sun dipped down over the horizon, sending deep red rays across the sky. Jack put the laptop down on the table and opened it up, adding a small attachment that looked to be adapted from something alien.

"So what was this afternoon all about?" Gwen asked, realising the others were staring at her in an 'ask questions' sort of way. She wondered when she had become the ask-it girl. It always seemed to fall to her to try and get information out of Jack. True, as Owen had pointed out, she was trained to ask questions, but the rest of them knew Jack just as well as her. They'd known him longer. It made her briefly wonder what they thought of her relationship with Jack.

"I told you."

"You didn't Jack," Gwen pointed out. He glanced up at her his eyes opaque with that secretive expression they all knew so well. The one that told them that Jack would be highly economical with the truth. Gwen, on seeing it, decided attack was the best form of defence.

"Damn it, Jack! We need to know, these people have systematically taken Ianto apart, and could probably try and have a go at us, and maybe that's their plan! If you want us to go through with this, you have to really tell us what is going on!"

"OK, but Teeley, in herself, is irrelevant to the plan, except she can see things, she can tell me enough to know that we can do what we need to do. This is the standard blueprint for Torchwood House, and the surrounding area."

Jack pressed a button, the blueprints appeared on the screen and then with another touch of a button the image seemed to jump up from the screen into a 3D hologram. Gwen blinked in mild shock, making Toshiko smirk a little. Jack fiddled with his wrist-strap and then activated something else on the alien technology attached to the laptop.

"And these are the plans that I have to Torchwood House, and nobody else knows about."

They all frowned at the image as red lines slowly started to overlay the blue, with a few flashes of information, details descriptions and side diagrams popping up randomly. Toshiko leaned in, putting her glasses on as she peered at the screen and the hologram, as both ran with flashes of information. The detail, she realised, was astounding. She said nothing, but both Owen and Gwen knew, by her silence, by her concentration; what they were looking at, was worth looking at.

"And that is what?" Owen asked, not bothering to look. It was something he knew he wouldn't get.

"It's astounding," Toshiko said with awe, still peering.

"Thank you," Jack said, sounding very pleased at the compliment, then he suddenly leant forward and pushed the laptop down, so the image flickered away. He looked up towards the door and waited, Gwen turned to see the nice old lady coming down the corridor with a tray.

"I brought you some coffee and cakes, you've had a long drive."

"Thank you," Jack said, with a pleasant grin. He jumped up to take the tray off her. Owen rolled his eyes as he watched Jack at his most charming, which was a clear aim to get the woman out of the room as fast as he could, while leaving her utterly un-offended by it.

"We'll bring the tray down when we've done, that's very kind of you," Jack said. As she walked away Jack made a show of pouring out coffee for everyone as if it was perfectly normal. The second she was out of sight he flipped the laptop open again and the image obligingly reappeared.

"What is it all?" Gwen asked.

"This is one of my first projects when I started working for Torchwood. They had a lot of alien technology, that it was taking them a while to work out, when I pointed out a few things, I was given the job of redesigning the house."

"It's a fortress, look at this," Toshiko pointed to one diagram. "There's a forcefield generator implanted in the brickwork, and particle cannons on the outer walls, secure rooms..."

"And a few other things. The whole point of Torchwood, at least at that time, was to protect the British Empire, and one of the things that needed a good deal of protection was the head of said Empire, and any descendents."

"The Monarchy?" Owen asked and Jack nodded.

"They had already started on the house before I got to it. Queen Victoria had nearly been killed by a werewolf there, and her husband had already set up some defences with that threat in mind. They were a little odd, the things he had done, but they were very effective. After that, the decision was taken to build on it and that if there was a serious threat, alien or supernatural or…."

"A werewolf; there was a real live werewolf?" Gwen asked with a frown.

"Apparently so, the strange thing is the Doctor saved her, and she set up Torchwood to catch him, regarding him as a threat."

"But he saved her?" Toshiko asked.

"So the story goes. I heard a few different versions as I worked on the house."

"But how would that defend an empire, protecting one person," Gwen said.

"Because without that one person, that figurehead, then everyone and everything below it has nothing to look to. They might only be symbolic but it can make a huge difference. It only took shooting one person to cause a whole world war, trust me, Gwen, it works."

"So, Torchwood house is a safe house. If anything was a relevant enough threat, take them to the house, and lock them in."

"But it's in the middle of nowhere, how the hell were they going to get someone there during an immediate attack?" Owen snapped. Jack grinned at him, Owen scowled, and Jack still grinned. Then he pressed a couple of buttons on the laptop. The image of the house faded, and another one overlaid it, this time in green.

"That's a teleport," Toshiko said.

"It's called a trans-mat pod. The main pod is in the house, and the person in question to be transported has the control device. It's reliable enough, I know it works, and Torchwood was set up to analyse any information, and possible threats, so should there be a need, they could inform the relevant party that they needed to get to the house."

"So, we can actually transport into the house then, without anyone actually knowing we can do it."

"Yep, the unfortunate thing is, the pod is based here… in the highest room in the house, it's also the main base of information."

"Wouldn't they have noticed it then?" Toshiko asked. "According to these blueprints, it's pretty noticeable."

"Like our lift, there's a perception filter. Everyone in the house, that has been into that room, knows it's there, but not in their conscious mind. You have to know it's there to walk in and see it. They pass it everyday, register it and just see it as something in the corner of their eye."

"Did Archie know it was there?" Gwen asked. "I mean, he was the man looking after the house."

"No, I don't think so, I never informed him. But when he took over in Glasgow I don't know what the main debrief from London contained. However, the house is Level 1 clearance only. I only have that because I constructed the defences. The only other people that have the information are very high up."

"Maybe then he didn't know. What he didn't know, he couldn't tell. We still have that advantage right?" Gwen asked.

"The only people aware of the defences of the house, are me, the Royal family – they are the ones that may need to use it – and some of their security, who would not under any circumstances give this information away. The fact of the matter is, the Queen now sees no relevance in this actual house. Most of the care has been turned back to me, I have all the controls."

"She doesn't? Considering all the alien stuff that happens, you'd think she would."

"She trusts the Doctor to fix most things, he hasn't let her down yet, and they get on quite well… most of the time. Besides, there's not exactly an empire anymore, and she can't really let anyone know what we have. It's a fortress, a weapons store, it's the most dangerous building on the planet, and we are really the only four people to know that."

"Are those nuclear warheads then?" Toshiko asked.

"Yeah, six of them. There are also four warheads with black hole converters."

"Shit!" Toshiko swore, which was so unusual that everyone gazed at her in surprise.

"I know, some of my best and worst work all in the same package," Jack said.

"You built them?" Gwen asked in shock.

"Trust me, at the time I did this, I was sort of a take the money and not worry about the consequences kind of guy."

"Lovely," Owen said. "You haven't thought to ever decommission them?"

"No," Jack said, firmly, in a tone that hinted that he wasn't even thinking of doing it now.

"So, what can we use from this arsenal, or are we just planning to set off the bombs. How can they not know they are there?" Owen asked.

"They're hidden in the hillside," Jack said. "And no, we are not about to set any of them off, but we can use what is there, if we time it right. First part, work out how many people are there, and then we need to draw them into the relevant places and trap them."

"The lockdown areas?" Toshiko asked.

"Yeah, it would be good if we could be seen on three corners of the property, that would draw people out and then we can lock them down in those areas. Each entrance is set up to trap anyone trying to get it."

"But it could equally be turned on people trying to get out, to get to an outside threat. Because they don't know that they can be trapped," Toshiko said. Jack nodded at her.

"But three corners, you said three corners, what about the fourth?" Gwen asked. "I mean there's four of us."

"I'm going in through the teleport, I'll go straight to the control room and do what I can."

"What if you run into anyone?" Owen asked.

Jack took a deep breath. "I have lockdown of that entire house. I appear there, and they will turn the defences inward. You can safely get in, using the locks. Tosh, I need you on point for one side of the attack, but I need you reading the internal infa-red. It's a lot to ask…"

"A lot to ask…! Jack, are you insane?" Owen snapped.

"No, he's not, and I can do it. Because he didn't just hire me because I'm clever."

Jack frowned as he looked at Toshiko. "Didn't I?"

"Well, maybe you did, but for this as well."

"Oh, yeah," Jack said with a grin. "I did hire you because you're clever." Then his smile faded dramatically. "But there is no middle line here, whoever is in there, whoever you encounter, this is a shoot to kill scenario. I doubt they'll hesitate, so you don't either, all except one person, and that one person is mine."

As they slept, getting what they could for the next morning, Jack clambered onto the roof of the tiny bed and breakfast. Just over the hill lay the future, and their past, Torchwood's past. Jack had long ago hoped to have left it behind but he couldn't. All the bad things he had done loved to rear up and bite him hard on his backside. Getting out his phone he dialled a number.

"Dr Davies," a bored, tired voice announced.

"Hi Tim."

There was a long pause. "Jack? Are you all right?"

"I'm okay."

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing, just nothing; just a big day tomorrow. Is Ianto okay?"

"No," Tim announced in his usual, flat and honest tone. "He's confused, upset, worried about you. I had to sedate him today, heavily."

"What happened?"

"Just a fire alarm going off, it frightened the life out of him. Jack, whatever was done to him means you are not to take these people lightly."

"I'm not about to," Jack said. "Which is why I want to instigate Code 57 with you."

"What?!" Tim roared down the phone. Jack winced pulling the device away from his ear, slightly. God, he thought to himself, for someone so mild seeming, Tim could swear. Jack waited until Tim ran out of steam before putting the phone back to his ear.

"If you don't hear from me within 48 hours, I want you to take over responsible care of Torchwood employee 37458, Ianto Jones; including any medical or psychological concerns and any debriefs that are necessary."

"Jesus Christ, Jack!"

"Security authorisation 45895, Harkness," Jack finished.

"You don't think you'll come back from this, any of you."

Jack sighed. "We might not want to. Just, if I don't come back, look after him."

"You selfish fucking bastard! You can't just abandon him…!"

Jack flipped the phone shut on Tim and stared out into the darkness, over the hill in the direction of Torchwood House. To the past, to the future; to tomorrow morning.


	22. Chapter 22

**I am now updating this story like mad, because I have just worked out how to carry it on from the point I had written up to.**

They were all aware of what they were about to do. None of them spoke about it, even in the dead of night, when they lay in their rooms, supposedly sleeping. Jack didn't sleep and Owen, in the same room, resolutely lay with his back to Jack, so he could pretend he was asleep.

In the room opposite Gwen and Toshiko lay in their single beds, smelling the rose fragranced fabric softener, with their backs to each other. Not talking, knowing they were both awake and should perhaps say something about it. They didn't know how many people were in the house, how many people they each were about to kill. There was no question about whether or not they wanted to, or whether or not such an action could be considered right for them to do. The simple fact was, they were going to do it. No deeper thought than that needed to be considered.

Breakfast was just as silent affair, as was the drive to the house. Toshiko sat in the back readying the computers and comms, Gwen fiddled with the guns, checking them and re-checking them. Owen did nothing but watch the scenery as Jack roared the SUV over the country lanes. There was no point checking his medical kit that much. In this scenario, it was unlikely anyone shot would be needing medical treatment.

When they reached the house, the sun, struggling through the clouds, was almost at the highest point in the sky.

Toshiko lingered on the west side of the house, close enough that she was at risk, except for the key around her neck. She was going to be the first to strike, so she was the first in danger. Jack told her to wear the key on it's ragged bit of string. Not exactly the latest fashion, she had said. Jack flicked up his eyebrows and shrugged.

"Doesn't need to be, it just does the job. It's a perception filter, like the lift. You won't be invisible, just no one will really notice you."

"No change there then," Toshiko had mumbled rather cynically. She sat just on the edge of a line of trees, her laptop open, typing frantically as she uploaded the programmes she needed from the alien attachment that Jack had added. The schematic of the house came up on the display and she instigated the programme to analyse the heat signatures. That was the reason she was most at risk, she had to concentrate on that. The others would be watching, shooting at anything that moved, under her guidance. She would be watching out for them.

"Owen, you have a cluster of people in the kitchen, looking at some of the heat patterns they look to be preparing lunch."

"How many?" Owen's voice asked over the secure comm. line she had programmed this morning.

"Twelve, no… hang on… make that thirteen, another one has just joined them."

"About the right time, perfect timing."

"The kitchen leads onto the courtyard, draw them out into there and I can activate the particle lasers that are out there. It's the perfect trap, draw people into it and then it will literally slice them to pieces. You can't enter the courtyard until I give you the go ahead. As soon as there are enough of them out there, I will activate it for a five second burst, anyone still alive you will need to take out yourself."

"Not a problem," Owen said.

"And you can't enter the courtyard until I've deactivated all the lasers, I'll tell you when."

"Yeah, Tosh, I kind of figured that," Owen said. "Gwen, what about you, if we set both distractions at the same time, then anyone on your side will be busy with you, it will keep them separated."

"Divide and conquer," Gwen mused. "Nice, how many am I looking at Tosh?"

Toshiko rotated the schematic of the house, "Six, there seems to be some sort of control room, CCTV on the house and area. I've locked the relevant cameras, all they can see is countryside, but I won't bother with the others, once we start, they'll know we're here. Those are yours. Jack?"

"Tosh," Jack said calmly.

"You have one person in the upper area. They are on the floor below the transmat pod. I'm not sure which direction they will go when the shooting starts."

"If that's who I think it is, then I can safely assume he'll stay put, and let his troops do all the work for him. He's mine to deal with, and if you see someone wearing biker boots, you know what to do."

"Slow and painful, or quick and messy?" Owen asked, sounding like he was ginning while he spoke, teeth clenched and body running on adrenaline.

"I'll leave that to your discretion," Jack said smoothly, his voice flat and cold.

"Tosh, are you ready?" Owen asked, his voice over the comm. demanding and eager.

"Go."

Simultaneously Gwen and Owen raised their flare guns. Gwen narrowed her eyes as she focussed on the tall elegant windows that flanked the side of the house, leading, Jack had said, to the drawing room. Owen pointed at the archway, aiming at the corner where they knew the guard station was.

"Three, two," Gwen started, paused for effect and then finished. "One."

They fired at the same time. Gwen watched as the middle window she aimed at shattered, glass flying everywhere, shards glittering in the sunlight. Gwen was up and running. Owen followed suit, although his aim was not as good as Gwen's. The flare hit the wall and skittered off into the yard, leaving a trail of red sparks as it went. Owen started to run forward, leaping out of the ditch as he heard the screams. There was a light show of blue flashes, matching perfectly with the red flare, sending the sparks purple as they cross the lasers and reacted with it.

His heart started to pound in his chest, blood rushing to his head as he counted five seconds. The light show died as he reached the archway, the flare burning out and the power to the lasers cut off by Toshiko. Owen paused at the corner, peering around the stone wall to check out the scene. He could hear screaming, a sound filled with horror. He exhaled a long breath, tightened the grip on his gun and took a step forward.

The rough material of his coat brushed against the stone as he stayed as deep in the shadows as he could. He lifted his arms and stepped into the courtyard. He swore and ducked as someone fired from the far side, a second later he recovered, sited and shot. The man went down without a sound, the bullet hitting him directly between his eyebrows. Owen scanned for any further significant threats but found none. Straightening up a little and stepping forward he looked at the carnage that the lasers had created.

His eyes scanned the bodies in the courtyard, his throat tightening a little. The medic part of his mind registered the lack of blood, clearly the lasers cauterised as they sliced. If he could take part of the technology he could probably find that useful.

"Oh my God!"

Owen swung round at the scream. The man was lying on the floor. The body of another solider, severed across the torso, lay across him, in such a position that he couldn't see that both his legs had been severed. The laser had done such a good job that he wasn't feeling any pain. He squirmed to try and get out from under the body, pushing with his hands. Owen watched as he moved, the severed legs lying still were they were. Then the man paused as he looked up at Owen, eyes widening like saucers. One of the man's hands went to grab a nearby gun. He never got the chance, Owen shot him in the head and the man slumped back down again, smacking hard against the cobbles of the courtyard as he landed.

Swinging round Owen shot again, taking a semi-conscious soldier out without so much as blinking. Owen made his way across the courtyard, eyes moving left to right, gun following, and he shot at anything that moved. There wasn't much, he had only let off four more shots before he reached the door to the kitchen area of the house.

All four shots hit their targets.

Gwen took the side door that Toshiko had located. She had six of them, she released a low breath that came out as a growl and she slammed her shoulder against the door, burst into the room, and shot.

She remembered, that time with Owen, trapped in a wood, with Toshiko frightened and helpless. Finding out that cannibals were to blame, not aliens, how awful was that? That was the first time she had been called on to use her gun and she couldn't. They were people, for God's sake, that didn't deserve it, that first shot.

Then she learnt, it occurred to her, that perhaps the only things that did need a bullet were people. Jack trained her, told her she was a very good shot and than added to that, he hoped that she never had to use that talent. What did that say?

It said that he didn't want her to use it. He dreaded what might make her use it. No wonder he was so damn edgy that night. She had seen what these people had done to Ianto. He was frightened what could be done, he had suffered it for months. It was the only thing the human race really had to fear. By her standards anyway. Those that killed, got their fate back.

Gwen raised her gun. Jack had taught her, she didn't think, she survived. But as she burst into the room, her eyes scanned, she had time, she had surprise on her side, and she could almost count the few seconds where she could debate it in her mind.

These people had hurt Ianto. Not just because they were there, or by accident, these people had hurt him. Yes, he deserved something, Lisa had almost killed her, converted her, and would have taken away her emotions as if they were some pest to be eradicated. Gwen had them in force now, she looked sighted and shot.

Six bullets took six people down like she was ten pin bowling. They went down and she heard something down a corridor.

"Someone's heading down to your side, Tosh!"

Toshiko's laptop sat neatly in the heather that lined the south hills. It was, as she put it down, merrily destroying itself. She had made it so Mission Impossible that she couldn't tell the others, she just had to keep that little joke to herself.

The mainframe control was in the SUV parked miles away. What she had been carrying, just held the programmes they needed, and as soon as the fight started the computer was redundant. It would die a quiet, unremarkable death, probably like she would one day, without Jack to notice her. He was the only man that did, and it would have been nice if, just once, it could be for the wrong reasons. An unleashed night of sex with Captain Jack Harkness might be fun, he need not worry about her playing the clingy, pay attention to me, girl. She just wanted him once, taste him well and then end of.

Jack wasn't commitment to her; Owen was, people like Owen, who were screwed up, people that she had to think about. Jack took no thought; that was half his problem. She slammed the front door open and paused as she met the barrel of a gun.

"Stop there, girlie."

She started to laugh. "You are kidding me, I've got control of the house, I've activated the lasers in the courtyard that sliced at least a dozen of your soldiers to pieces and I've locked off the top room and you think that you can just … and…" She paused and looked.

"… You're in biker boots."


	23. Chapter 23

Gwen ducked as bullets shot over her head. Peering up she looked around and then standing up started to fire. It was just random this time, but as she saw the shadow flit across the wall she aimed at the door. She saw the body spin, whirling under the momentum and as the now limp body fell out into the hallway it was cut apart by guns from outside. Gwen activated her comm.

"Anyone outside the drawing room?" she asked. There was nothing more than a little flicker of static. That gave a good enough answer. It was no one she knew. Her mind ran back over the layout of the house, and as she moved forward, she stayed with her back to the wall and facing the windows, looking out at the glorious view, and she took her time. She even paused to look at the view. The sunlight cascaded down over the hill that rippled with green and purple vegetation.

It wasn't quite south facing, south-east, so that the light of the sun was starting to retreat, lengthening the shadows. She headed towards the door, the threat she had taken out was now still and quiet. But she paused and peered around the door, like she had been trained. Jack had always said she was good, he said it trying to praise but there was fear in his voice. She was too good, her instinct lay on the edge, on the edge of just liking it enough.

Gritting her teeth she stepped out carefully, pointing her gun at the inert body. She eyed the solider dispassionately, he was nothing more than a boy, now a body just stared up at the ceiling. Gwen crouched and looked around, then holstered her automatic. Reaching down she unlooped the cord from around the boy's neck and she lifted the compact uzi away from the body. Looking at it she discharged the cartridge and then searched the corpse for a refill. She found it and locked it in place as she heard the sounds around her. The staircase pounded with troops alerted to the crisis. She was close enough to hear them echo around the hall and she stepped out, moving around to look at the broad sweeping stairs that made a perfect centre-point to the house.

And then she fired.

They eyed each other, as the shots rang out around the house. The man didn't lift his gun, so Toshiko didn't either. Jack had shown her the blueprints of the house, she knew them well enough. It was hard to really see it until you got into it. She knew they were both hard to sneak up on, and no one was getting through this way. She had access the plans, to the workings of the house and she had cut off what she needed.

Owen and Gwen could competently take the lower floor, and Jack was at the top and then, between that, lay the middle. It wasn't a place she particularly liked. No one liked being stuck in the middle, but it happened. It happened to this man.

"You tortured Ianto."

"I did, Girlie, I did."

"Don't call me Girlie, I don't like it."

"Too bad, Girlie, you're a pretty little thing I'll give you that."

"Thank you," she said with an inclination of her head. "But my father thought I was pretty when I was ten years old, I think, I've rather outgrown that."

"Have you now?"

"Yeah, because I'm not as dumb as I clearly look. You are protecting the only stairwell up to the folly. But you are missing one major point."

"And what's that?" Biker Boots demanded.

"I cut down half your army with a press of a button. Did you not see what happened in the courtyard?"

"Yeah, you have a few recourses."

Toshiko started to laugh, she paced up towards the stairs and the man backed down. She stepped up three and then came back down onto solid ground. Biker Boots walked around, following her pace, circling her as she was him.

"A few resources? I'm better than that, I could take this house apart because…."

"Lion's den, Girlie, did you not think about that?"

"Jack's den, did you not think about that?" Toshiko asked.

"Jack Harkness, this is his show of power, a little girl, and two people that can shoot straight. I'll tell you…."

"NO!" she snapped. "I'll tell you, the transmat pod in the folly has just taken Jack Harkness straight into that part of the building, and your friend is completely cut off. No one can help him," Toshiko said. She paused as she heard a scattering of gunfire, it sounded close by but it didn't distract her for long. Toshiko needed to keep her full concentration on the man before him.

"Did you torture Archie as well?"

The man smirked at her, pacing up the stairs again. Toshiko noted him favouring his right leg. Ianto had said he had a limp, she gave a quick glance down to his boots again and then back up. He was watching her carefully, with a mild sense of interest, as if he knew her, just a little bit. She wondered what sort of thing Ianto, or Archie, had said about her, about the rest of them.

"I can take that as a yes. Was he dead when you left him there?"

"Does that matter?" he asked. Toshiko paused.

"Yes, it does."

There was a long heavy pause. They both stopped walking and stared at each other. Toshiko felt a gentle breeze behind her, the door to the gallery was open. She wasn't particularly interested in the paintings but she was aware of what was around her. Her gaze stayed on the man in front of her, while she waited for an answer. He looked at her, eyes running up and down her, probably thinking of what he could do to her. What was happening behind his eyes didn't interest her much. However, he eventually drew his lower lip into his mouth, making a very annoying sucking sound as he did so before smirking and saying.

"No, he wasn't," he snarled.

Toshiko took a breath and spun on her heel. She dashed into the gallery with him right behind her. Running the length of the long room she then dodged to the side. The doorway took her into a corridor, dark panelled, making the whole place look gloomy, like something out of a horror film. She took the corner and carried on, knowing that the corridor would eventually take her back around to the gallery again. The layout of the house was firmly imprinted in her mind, she had spent hours last night staring at the blueprints. It had hardly changed over the last century, Jack had said. Apart from the modifications he had made, no one had touched it. Certainly not to change the integral layout of the building, since Jack had always liked it as it was.

She bounded up the short flight of steps again and hurtled into the gallery again, her trainers sliding a little on the wooden floor as she sprinted. Running halfway down she paused and turned, waiting. She was faster than the man behind her, but she could hear him running to catch her up. He wasn't about to give up now. She delved into the pocket of her jeans for the small device that was tucked in there. As she had run she had felt it digging into her leg, reminding her that it was there.

Very carefully she held it in the palm of her hand. It was a perfect size, slotting into her hand as if it was made for her. The back of it was smooth and cool against her sweating skin. Feeling it there her body calmed, the adrenaline she had sent surging through her system heightened her senses. As she listened in those few seconds she heard the thud of her own heartbeat, and the thumping of the man's boots as he came after her. She could even, at the moment, hear the limp. The pounding of his feet on the boards, a little disjoined, emphasized by the increase in pace.

As his shadow, then his figure crossed the threshold into the room, she lifted her chin and exhaling blew her fringe out of her eyes. Some of it was stuck to her forehead, dampened with sweat. She felt a flicker of temptation to reach up a hand to push it out of her way, but she stayed still, not moving an inch as he came into the room and paused. He smirked at her.

"Giving up so soon Girlie?" he asked.

Toshiko smiled, she knew it wasn't reaching her eyes, she could feel the chill behind them, seeping into her brain as she looked at the man in front of her. She glanced down at his boots again.

"Your boots are dirty," she commented.

"Nobody to clean them, although I'm sure you could do a very good job with that sharp little tongue of yours."

Toshiko raised her eyebrows and flexed her hand. As he stepped forward she backed up a few steps.

"You really don't want to do that," she said. As he stepped forward again she stayed still, letting the distance narrow between them.

"Are you going to try running again? You won't get away from me this time."

"Didn't intend to the first time," Toshiko said, her voice taking on a childish edge, and she smirked as he frowned. Then she flexed her fingers again, lifting the hand that held the small device neatly fitted into her palm. "It's just that Jack advised me that I need an elevated heart rate for this to have the full effect."

He frowned, his eyes following the movement of her hand as she raised it. His face flickered with curiosity, and he frowned.

"What do you think that will…" he started, reaching for the gun on his belt as he did so. Before now, he clearly hadn't seen her as anything to worry about, she felt a mild ripple of panic through her body as she saw him go for the weapon but then something happened to her hand. She felt a wave of something buffet through her, honing in on her hand. Her entire arm shuddered as she felt the shock of energy pass through her. It felt like it was pulsing out from her hand, the entire rhythm of her body working with it.

She gasped as she felt something come back to her. The heavy thudding of a heart shuddered through her head, but she knew it wasn't the sound of her own body. This one was frantic, pounding heavily. Her own felt calmer, she was younger than the man in front of her, and fitter, she thought, as she looked at the heaviness of his body. The sound of the heart she could hear was his, struggling along.

The sound seemed to focus down into her hand, making her entire arm tingle. She knew she was safe from what the device could do, she was behind the power of it, as she steadied her hand again she knew, just her hand would shield her, cupped around the device, and she concentrated the growing pulse of energy on the man in front of her.

She felt the ripple again, like a sonic shockwave building up from the sound of the heartbeat. The man's eyes widened, stepping back, his hand reaching up to his chest, gripping onto the material of his black tee-shirt. For a moment Toshiko thought he had ripped the material as the sound of something tearing echoed around the room. Then she realised the sound was of something else, something thicker and stronger. The man jerked and the cracking sounds echoed around the long, high room. Toshiko's eyes widened as Biker Boots fell backwards, writhing as something rippled under the shirt.

He pulled at it frantically, gasping in panic as he watched what was happening. Toshiko saw a flash of white as the tee-shirt was ripped open from the inside. The man's sternum was poking up through the material, he jerked again and Toshiko felt the pulse flow back towards her.

By sheer reflex she closed her hand, her entire arm jerked all the way down to her shoulder and she lowered her arm, dropping the small round device on the floor. It fell with a quiet clatter, spinning a little before it settled on the floor by her feet. The device was smooth, and grey in colour, looking like a small pebble, and nothing like a machine that could rip open a man's ribcage. He had scrabbled so hard he had finished what his ribs had started, tearing the tee-shirt open to expose the damage that Toshiko had inflicted.

She stepped forward, reaching for the gun that lay at the small of her back. But she didn't really need it now. The man had no intention of shooting her, not while he looked at his chest, so easily ripped open. He looked up at her in shock, and then jerked, gasping frantically as another pair of feet thundered up the stairs into the gallery. Toshiko raised her gun calmly and waited, watching as Gwen dashed into the room. She paused as she looked at Toshiko, who lowered her gun slowly. Gwen shifted the uzi strap on her left shoulder.

"I heard running," Gwen said. "I just came to… oh."

"Yeah, Jack said I needed an elevated heart rate to make this effective." Toshiko swooped down to pick up the pebble device off the floor. She tossed it into the air and caught it again. "That or I needed someone with heart disease."

"Wow, what the hell is that thing actually meant to do?" Gwen asked. She crouched down to look at the mess that Toshiko had made of the man's chest. As he reached out of her, still gulping desperately, bloody foam forming at the corners of his mouth, she stood up and backed away from him.

"Increases sonic resonance. I think the amplification of his heartbeat broke open his ribcage."

"Ouch!" Gwen said. "Hey! Biker boots!"

"Yeah, this is the guy, he's got a limp. Ianto said he had a limp."

"The other one probably did from all the blisters he had. We could take them off and have a look." She glanced at Toshiko, and they decided, with one long look, they didn't really want to do that. Toshiko looked back at the boots.

"Yeah, but this time we're here, and he was blocking the route to the folly. I think he was trying to get in."

"Yeah," Gwen said, and then crouched to look at the boots. The man aimed a feeble kick in her direction; she brushed his foot aside with a dismissive hand. "And look at the soles, they're scuffed, he's used these boots, the others weren't like this on our impostor."

"Exactly," Toshiko said.

"So, what do we do with him?"

"He did leave Archie to die," Toshiko said.

The man gasped again, desperately trying to form words but couldn't get anything out. His strength was clearly fading, but slowly. His eyes were growing wider and wider as they casually spoke to each other.

"So, we could return the favour," Gwen said.

"But…" Toshiko started.

"That makes us no better then."

"I really don't think we can bring morals into this."

"Perhaps not," Gwen said, she shifted the uzi again. "But I like this."

"It's nice, suits you."

"Yeah, we should get training in more than handguns," Gwen said.

"I don't think Jack likes anything else, I think that sort of thing bothers him."

"Now and again, I don't think he likes using them at all."

"It's probably not a bad philosophy," Toshiko said. She checked her handgun and looked down at the gasping man in front of her. His chest really was a mess, she noted. I did that, she thought to herself. And he did worse, she added. She looked at Gwen, who slowly stood up to stand next to her.

"Shall we?" Gwen asked.

"Yeah, let's do messy."

Biker Boots watched the two women raise their guns, aiming at him carefully. They paused, looked at each other and smiled before turning back to him. Gwen unleashed first and Toshiko followed. They fired everything they had into him, leaving nothing more than a bloody heap in their wake as they left the gallery.

"You know, that's really going to stain the woodwork," said Gwen.


End file.
